Watoto children's church at Lubowa

Abstract

The Lubowa children’s church project was initiated and funded by Watoto Church as part of their Child Care Ministries, a ministry that assists vulnerable children and women in Uganda. The project consisted of a single storey church block, approximately 866 square meters including building works, external works and associated electrical and mechanical works. The project employed the traditional method of procurement and an analysis of the project clearly laid out the disadvantages of this method of procurement. The major disadvantage highlighted relates to the disputes arising from difficulty to apportion responsibility for errors to either the designers or the constructors. The report also examined the application of knowledge, skills, tools and techniques to the project activities to meet the project requirements. The key constraints to effective project implementation of scope, schedule, cost and quality were examined. It was concluded that, whilst great construction projects may have historically been executed using the traditional method of procurement, modern construction projects require teams of specialists to work together to develop ideal solutions and ensure that projects are delivered on time, to budget and to the requirements specified by the client. The construction industry could benefit from adapting the design and build approach. A lapse in project control, monitoring and management systems will ultimately affect the implementation of the project and can easily result in budget and time overruns and even affect the quality of the work. This leads to loss in value; to the client in terms of potential income, to the contractor in penalties paid and to government in terms of potential tax revenue.