Risk Management in Construction - Challenging and Emerging Issues (in Vietnam) Part 3

Analyze Risk Factors Affect on Vietnam Construction and Petro Projects

In the Risk Management in Construction FORUM, Mr. Pham Hong Linh and Dr. Trinh Thuy Anh made a presentation on Risk Factors Affecting Vietnam Construction and Petro Projects.

Mr. Pham Hong Linh who is now the General Director of OMMON Pipeline project 400 Km Length and a Vice President of PV Gas shared his years of experience in managing construction projects such as (i) Dung Quat Oil Refinery, (ii) Thi Vai LPG Terminal, (iii) Phu My - Thu Duc Gas Pipeline, (iv) Ca Mau Gas – Power - Fertilizer, and (iv) PVN Tower Building at Le Duan St, HCM. He explained the problems faced in the projects and the causes as follows:

• Dung Quat Oil Refinery - Delay Cost increase due to The Owner Change and Wrong in the estimation
• Thi Vai LPG Terminal - Delay, Crack Settlement due to wrong in design of foundation
• Phu My - Thu Duc Gas Pipeline - Delay due to Change F.S and Cost increase
• Ca Mau Gas – Power - Fertilizer - Delay and not yet operate due to Cost increase from half billion to 900 million.
• PVN Tower Building at Le Duan St, HCM - Delay due to policy change and Design & Build
  

In his conclusion, he gave his positive opinions regarding Risk Management for Vietnam Construction Projects as follows:

• Risk management should be considered as an important part of project management.
• Risks management need to be considered into related regulation. Construction Law or Government Decrees
• Especially focus on the initiation stage:Investment report, Feasibility Study, Project planning and Detail Design.
• The Government required playing an important role in study and providing risk management institution in Investment Projects.
• Proposes in specific institution for risk management in terms of time, cost, resource, regulation, guideline, process and content by the government. For example, the cost estimated for risk management could be considered as essential part among the total investment cost of the project.
• The Investors should pay appropriate attention to risk management along with project planning while those institution and policies do not approve.
• The appendix of the report suggests a risk management process to them.
  

During the Question and Answer session, participants asked following questions:

• When is the best time to conduct Risk Management?
• According to Mr. Linh, Risk Management must be carefully taken in each project phase. In each phase, different risks occur. For example, during the Feasibility Study, we should consider risks related with Land Acquisition. He explained that one of the project must pay a lot of compensation to the contractor because the owner cannot give the compensation to the people on time. Another example, for pipeline project, during the design stage the project may not identify any road construction and then at the construction stage, a new road construction was constructed. This means that additional costs to repair the road after the construction of pipe line occurs.

Posted by

Dr. BHW Hadikusumo
CEIM Coordinator
http://www.set.ait.ac.th/ceim/

" CEIM offers Master and Doctoral degrees in Construction Project Management and Infrastructure Management in Indonesia, Thailand and Vietnam "

Risk Management in Construction - Challenging and Emerging Issues (in Vietnam) Part 2

Dr. Hadikusumo made a presentation about Safety Management System for Zero Accident Target. His presentation discussed how to develop a good safety management system and which safety programs are effective to achieve our safety performance target. His presentation was based on a 4.5 years intensive study conducted in Thailand by Dr. Thanet Aksorn and Dr. Hadikusumo.

In his presentation, he explained that most of accidents are caused by unsafe behaviors of people and unsafe conditions. The unsafe behavior contribute 80% of the total accidents. The main reason of the unsafe behavior is because of Human Error. Based on Acciddent/Incident Theory of Dan Peterson, human error can be reduced and eliminated if the company has a good safety management system.

Dr. Hadikusumo concluded that four important issues which are very important to support the implementation of Safety Management System: (i) Management Committment, (ii) Worker Participation, (iii) Safety Protection System and (iv) Safety Administration.

He mentioned that many contractors dont really know which safety programs are effective to help them to achieve good safety performance target. Based on the 4.5 years intensive study, Dr. Thanet revealed that some safety programs are very effective and efficient to reduce accidents, unsafe acts and unsafe conditions. They are:

• Accident investigation including near-miss accident
• Safety Inspection
• Job Hazard Analysis
• Safety committee
• Safety Audit
• Control of Subcontractors
  

Effective means can achieve the result and Efficient means the safety program does not need a lot of resources.

During the Question/Answer session, forum audience asked following issues:

• How much is the appropriate safety budget for a construction project? In Dr. Hadikusumo's opinion, the budget is within 1.5 to 3% depends on the size of the project. For large construction project with longer duration, the safety budget can be 1.5% since the PPE can be repetitively used. However, he mentioned that the most important is not the percentage figure, but how the budget is allocated. He recommended that the safety budget must be separated from the total project cost and the contractor must breakdown the safety budget in detail so that this safety budget plan can be used to check whether the contractor really implement the safety plan. This issue is important because many projects tried not to spend on safety expenses for increasing their profits.
• Do I need to have a Safety Management System, if i already pay insurance? The answer is yes! They are two different purposes. Insurance is to protect you from a certain risk while Safety Management System is for your organization competency and development.

Posted by

Dr. BHW Hadikusumo
CEIM Coordinator
http://www.set.ait.ac.th/ceim/

" CEIM offers Master and Doctoral degrees in Construction Project Management and Infrastructure Management in Indonesia, Thailand and Vietnam "

Risk Management in Construction - Challenging and Emerging Issues (in Vietnam) Part 1

CEIM/AIT in collaboration with AITCV organized a forum "Risk Management in Construction - Challenging and Emerging Issues" in Saigon, Vietnam on 16 January 2008 at Majestic Hotel.

The FORUM was attended by 50 persons from many organizations:
- Cong Ty TNHH Tu Van Xay Dung Tan CC
- Cong Ty CP TV TK Cang - Ky Thuat Bien
- Cong Ty Co Phan Dau Tu Phat Trien Sai Gon
- Cong Ty TNHH Huy Tan
- Cty Co Phan Xay Dung and Kinh Doanh Vat Tu
- Thanh Tra So Xay Dung Tp HCM
- Tong Cong Ty Xay Dung Sai gon
- CN-Trung Tam Tu Van Dau Tu Va Thiet Ke
- Cong Ty Tu Van Thiet Ke Dau Khi
- Waseco
- Chuong Duong Construction and Investment Company
- IndoChina Land Project Management
- PV Manpower Training College
- Cong Ty Co Phan Phat Trien Nha thu Duc
- Cong Ty Kiem Dinh xay Dung Sai Gon
- Trung Tam An Toan Va MT Dau Khi (CPSE)
- Cong Ty TNHH Bat Dong San FPT
- Cong Ty Kiem Dinh Say Dung Saigon
- Ban Quan Ly Du An Khi Tay Nam Bo
- Cong Ty Co Phan Ngoc Suong
- COFICO
- Real Architecture
- Saigon Construction Quality control
- Saigon Construction Corporation
- PetroVietnam Power Corporation
- THUDUC House
- Project Management Unit
- Royal Haskoning


Three speakers were invited to present risk-related topics:
- Dr. BHW Hadikusumo (CEIM/AIT Faculty) on "Safety Management System for Zero Accident Target"
- Mr. Pham Hong Linh (Vice President of PV Gas) on "Risk in Vietnam Construction"
- Dr. Roland (AIT Faculty) on "Legal and Contract Risk"

The English presentation was interpreted to vietnamese language by two interpreter:
- Ms. Mai Do Thuy Dung (Purchasing Manager of IndoChina Capital)
- Mr. Bui Quang Luong (Project Management Unit Officer)
- note: both of them are currently pursuing their Professional Master in Project Management program in AITCV/Saigon.

In overall, the FORUM was very interesting. There are a lot of discussions and questions raised by FORUM participants.

We try our best to organize similar forums every three months!



Posted by

Dr. BHW Hadikusumo
CEIM Coordinator
http://www.set.ait.ac.th/ceim/

" CEIM offers Master and Doctoral degrees in Construction Project Management and Infrastructure Management in Indonesia, Thailand and Vietnam "

Kamal Hossain Joining CONNOLS Engineering Thailand

Kamar Hossain (CEIM 2005) is back to Thailand.

After his graduation, we went back to Bangladesh and worked in Property Developer company for 2 years.

In Dec 2007, he came back to Thailand and worked for CONNOLS Engineering. He is in charge of projects in Thailand and Vietnam.


Posted by

Dr. BHW Hadikusumo
CEIM Coordinator
http://www.set.ait.ac.th/ceim/

" CEIM offers Master and Doctoral degrees in Construction Project Management and Infrastructure Management in Indonesia, Thailand and Vietnam "

Mr. Somprasong Boonyachai, the new AITAA Mother Chapter President

In 36th AITAA Governing Board Meeting in Bangkok, Mr. Somprason (President of SHIN Corporation) is unanimously elected as the new President of Asian Institute of Technology Alumni Association (AITAA) Mother Chapter for 2007-2008 period.

In 27 Dec 2007, GENERAL Boonsrang Niumpradit (The AITAA President from 2006-2007) handed over the AITAA presidency to Mr. Somprasong Boonyachai. The handover ceremony was attended by AITAA Mother Chapter Excom (Dr. BHW Hadikusumo, Dr. Siriwan, Dr. Ann W., Mr. Chawalit and Advisors - Dr. Tien) and Thai Chapter Excom members. The handover ceremony was held at official house of GENERAL Boonsrang Niumpradit (Supreme Commander of Thailand)


Posted by

Dr. BHW Hadikusumo
CEIM Coordinator
http://www.set.ait.ac.th/ceim/

" CEIM offers Master and Doctoral degrees in Construction Project Management and Infrastructure Management in Indonesia, Thailand and Vietnam "

Ms. Nang Kham Kyi Oo works at Chiyoda Singapore

Her nickname is Nang. She comes from Myanmar.

After graduation from AIT in May 2007, Ms. Nang Kham Kyi Oo immediately got a job in Chiyoda Contractor, a Japanese company operating Singapore. She is in charged of Project Controller for powerplant projects.

Posted by

Dr. BHW Hadikusumo
CEIM Coordinator
http://www.set.ait.ac.th/ceim/

" CEIM offers Master and Doctoral degrees in Construction Project Management and Infrastructure Management in Indonesia, Thailand and Vietnam "

James Suvanaphen moved to Bovis Singapore

After working several months in Bovis Project in Chiang Mai, James (CEIM Alumni Year 2007) moved to Bovis LendLease Singapore.

Congratulations James!

Posted by

Dr. BHW Hadikusumo
CEIM Coordinator
http://www.set.ait.ac.th/ceim/

" CEIM offers Master and Doctoral degrees in Construction Project Management and Infrastructure Management in Indonesia, Thailand and Vietnam "