Value engineering in construction of staff house and VIP drainable latrine at Biira HC 111 in Adjumani District.

Abstract

Infrastructure development in construction industry is a key driver in socio economic development of a country. As construction industry plays a vital role in economic growth and development of the country, it is in need to have proper construction techniques which are cost effective and time effective. Value Engineering (VE) is an innovative service which involves an organized approach to the identification and elimination of unnecessary designs and costs without loss of function. This report is about Value Engineering in the construction of a block of staff house and two blocks of two stance VIP latrine in at Biira HC III in Adjumani District, in which before the author participated as a Project Manager, designed the project that brought out clearly the aspect and need to apply value engineering and other value enhancing options (Construction Economics, Civil Engineering Economy and Project Management Skills) to other previous staff house projects which could on comparable basis be considered as wasteful of limited available resources. The author had to redesigned the semi-detached four bedroom staff house project with external kitchen and one block of two stance VIP latrine that over years had been constructed at a budget cost of UGX 300 million to accommodate only two staff with other bedrooms left redundant to “a block of four bedroom staff house project with internal kitchen and two blocks of two stance VIP latrine constructed at budget cost of UGX 193,124,150 to accommodate comfortably four teachers” which critically focused on construction in the form of value engineering. This need came when the councilors during their monitoring to the field as a follow-up visit propelled by the author’s technical report presented wasteful limited available resources to them during their committee meeting was decried by them and other stakeholders. The initial budget estimates of UGX 300 million and redundant bedrooms spent on a single block of semi-detached staff house with external kitchen and one block of two stance VIP drainable latrine was confirmed by them and they recommended for a cost effective design which the author addressed using value engineering in the staff house project. Detailed construction approaches employed, and aspects of construction project management practice adopted during the execution phase such as Project Contract Administration, Project Supervision, InspectionGraduate Project for the Award of Master of Science in Construction Management 2021-2022 DRATE Ewi Christopher 2020/HD08/17210U August 2022 Page v & Monitoring, Project Scope Management, Project Quality Management, Project Time Management, Project Cost Management, Project Risk Management, Project Stakeholder Management, Project Environment, Health & Safety Management and Project Information Management are all included in the report. The areas discussed at length include the measures taken to ensure the project objectives in terms of cost, quality, time, health, safety and environment aspects were achieved during the execution of the project. Gantt charts were used to manage and control time as concentration was given to critical activities. Quality was achieved by following standards, specifications, work methods and close supervision. Costs were also managed through timely measurement of the satisfactorily completed activities using the rates provided for the activities. Proper involvement of all stakeholders in the project and smooth flow of information during the period of project execution were maintained for the success of the project. The works were successfully executed to completion within the planned time frame from 22th December 2017 to 30th April 2018 and they cost a total of UGX 193,124,150 (UGX 193 million). Therefore, the implementation of Value Engineering and other value enhancing options (Construction Economics, Civil Engineering Economy and Project Management Skills) on this project compared to the previous projects ensured that 35% of the previous budget cost of construction project (UGX 107 million) was saved due to the creative options that was applied to the construction of staff house and VIP latrine. However, with the present budget estimate of UGX 215,143,236; the Value Engineering and other value enhancing options saved UGX 21,387,811 approximately 10% of the planned budget estimate