PROJECT SCHEDULE PLAN AND CONTROL FOR LONG SPAN BRIDGE PROJECT:

A CASE STUDY OF HOMALIN BRIDGE

SUPERVISOR - Dr. B. H. W Hadikusumo

Co – SUPERVISOR - Dr. Chotchai Charoenngam

Co – SUPERVISOR - Dr. Djoen San Santoso Submitted by : Aung Thi Ha

 Chapter-1
Introduction
Background of project
Transportation is important for economic and social development for Myanmar.
Chindwin Bridge (Homalin) is located in upper region of Sagaing Division, Khandi District,
Homalin town. It links from Homalin Town at the east bank of Chindwin River to Katha
village to west bank. The bridge will enhance the transportation infrastructure in the region
where the social, economic, education development has been low historically.

Objective of Study

To study theory of project schedule plan and control

To study existing practice of project schedule plan and control in this long span bridge
project
To analyse strengths, weakness and recommendation
To discuss lessons learnt
 Figure 1.1 Hydrograph Water Level (Homalin) 2015, 2016,2017
Active river water level
it is required to consider river flooding cycle, timing and historical record. As all the sub-
structure are built under river water and even the structural assembly is done with the
usage of long-range crane from the berg, it is very key to make use of the river surface
level condition in synchrony with project planning.
 Chapter 2
Literature review

Figure 2.1 - Scheduling overview (Project Management Institute, Inc., 2013).

Figure 2.2 - Control Schedule Overview (Project Management Institute, Inc., 2013).

The control schedule process can be broken down into three components, namely
inputs, tools and techniques and outputs. Figure 9 shows the different aspects included
in each of these components. These inputs, tools and techniques and outputs are
briefly addressed below, based on The Project Management Institute’s descriptions
(Project Management Institute, Inc., 2013).
 Chapter-3
Case Study and Analysis

Figure 3.1 Homalin Bridge location on the district map

 Project information

Project Name - Chindwin Bridge (Homalin)

Location - Sagaing Division, Homalin Township, Tamu-
Aungzaya- Kathar-homalin road
Project Cost - 17.33 Millions U.S dollar
Owner - Ministry of Construction
Constructor - Department of Bridge, Ministry of Construction
Steel Truss Suppliers - (1) J&M Co; Ltd, Myanmar
Length of Main Bridge - 842 meter
Road way width - 8.5 meter
Pedestrian width - 1 meter both side
Navigational clearance
Width - 105 meter
Height - 12 meter
Design Standard - AASHTO-HS-25
Commencement Date - 21th Aug 2016
Completion Date - 25th Mar 2018
Delivery Date - 21th Aug 2018
Figure Elevation drawing of Homalin Bridge.
Project Organization Structure

Figure . Project Organization Structure

 Practice of project schedule plan and control

In order to develop the project schedule and

controlling of Hoamlin Bridge Project, the
management focus on of the following
processes:

 Defining activities
 Sequencing activities
 Estimating activity resources
 Estimating activity durations
 Developing schedule
Work Break Down Structure of Chindwin Bridge (Homalin) Construction Project

Figure .Work Break Down Structure of Chindwin Bridge (Homalin) Construction Project
 Defining Activities and Activities List

The activity definition process is a

further breakdown of the work
package elements of the WBS. It
documents the specific activities
needed to fulfil the deliverables
detail in the WBS.

Figure Activity List Table

Figure Activity List Table
 3.2.3 Analysis with Critical Path Method

Critical path is the sequence of stages where we figure out what the least amount of time is
necessary to complete a task with the least amount of slack. Therefore, the critical path is the longest length of
time it will take to complete the project tasks.
It is required to understand dependencies and other constraint that might impact the start of this
task, earliest finish date, the latest start date. It is required to calculate what the latest finish date is for the same
reason. By having a clear picture of this timeframe, we can better schedule the project to meet its deadline.
Float, also known as slack, is a term that describes how long we can delay a task before it impacts
the planned schedule and threatens the project’s deadline. When we are collecting tasks for the critical path,
they must have zero float.
Crash duration is a term that describes the shortest amount of time that a task can be scheduled. We
can get this by moving around resources, adding more towards the end of the task, to decrease the time needed
to complete the task. This often means a reduction in quality, but is based on a relationship between cost and
time. In this project, in order to catch up some delay, we have to crash some activities.

Critical Path Identification Steps:

We defined critical path by using following steps. We use the work breakdown structure, which is a
hierarchical decomposition of the project, for every deliverable which is mentioned before. Estimate the duration
of each of those tasks, such as how long each one is going to take to complete it and move onto the next one. The
dependencies task were defined. A task dependency is when one task cannot start until another one has been
finished. We also defined the milestones which are the major phases in the project. Also all the deliverables were
identified and listed down
Figure. Critical Method Planning for Chindwin Bridge (Homalin) construction project
Figure. Critical Method Planning for Chindwin Bridge (Homalin) construction project
 3.2.4 Gantt Chart
Master Schedule Plan of CHINDWIN BRIDGE (HOMALIN) Project
Year 2016 2017 2018
Team
Work Items
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24
Month
Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Jan Feb Mar
Plan
Preparation Works
Actual
Foundation
Plan
Bored Pile Work of P1-P7
Actual
Plan
Mini Bored Pile of H1-H10
Actual
Plan
Bored Pile of A1 -A2
Actual
Substructure
Plan
Main Pier Pile Cap Work P1-P7
Actual
Plan
Approach Bridge Cap Work H1-H10
Actual
Plan
Main Pier Shaft Work P1-P7
Actual
Plan
Approach Bridge Shaft Work H1-H10
Actual
Plan
Main Pier Cross Beam Work P1-P7
Actual
Approach Bridge Cross Beam Work Plan
H1-H10 Actual
Plan
A1-A2 Cap & Abutment Body Work
Actual
Superstructure
Plan
Steel Truss fabrication Work
Actual
Steel Truss Transporation Plan
Ygn to Hml Actual
Main Bridge Steel Truss Plan
Erection Work (120m@4Span) Actual
Main Bridge Box Girder Steel Truss Plan
Erection Work (60m@2Span) Actual
Approach Bridge 20m Plan
R.C Girder Work Actual
Plan
Main Bridge Overlay Work
Actual
Plan
Approach Bridge Overlay Work
Actual
Main&Approach Collision Barrier Plan
& Hand Rail Actual
Plan
Finishing Work
Actual

Figure 3.10 Gantt Chart for the construction plan of Homalin Bridge.
 Short Interval Planning
In some phases, execution did not match with planning due to following reasons.
(1) Impractical planning/scheduling
(2) Mistakes in communication of the plan/schedule
(3) Improper translation and implementation of the plan/ schedule.
In some phases, we used three-week interval SIP to track the intangible obstacles to
implementation works according to schedule.

Figure Short Interval Planning of Bored Pile Work RP4

3.3.1 S-curve for monitoring project
3.3 Schedule monitoring

We use S-curve tools for monitoring of Homalin Bridge Project as it is the very useful project management tool that
can track the progress of the project over the time and allow to get quick visual status to determine project
condition.
In the beginning of the project, there was delay in the preparation stage due to delay in land compensation
processes. The gap between actual and plan was narrowed down due to some concurrent activities, in the beginning
of the bore pile works. Then, the gap between actual and plan widen again due to late completion in the Mini bored
pile of H1-H10 works and Mini Pier Shaft works. Then due to multiples concurrent activities and additional resource
utilization between Dec-2016 to Sep-2017 the actual completion trend is catch up again to narrow down the gap.
Finally , the completion rate catch up is speed up further and the project was completed within planned completion
date Mar-2018.

3.3.2 Measurement method for completion of project

To prevent the wrong interpretation of the project progress, we used three methods for measuring project
completion.
1. Units Completion
For example, foundation works for this project was weighted as 30% of the whole project. There were 128 bored pile
included in the foundation work. Each unit completion of bored pile work was considered 0.234% of the whole
project.
2. Incremental Milestones
For example, we consider preparation works carried 5% of the whole project work, foundation works is 30%, sub-
structure works 30%, super-structure works is 30% and finishing works is 5% of the whole project. Each mile stones
were used to update the job completion amount of the whole project.
3. Experience
For example, each of 3 major parts of the whole project, namely, foundation works, sub-structure and super-
structure works were considered 30% of the whole project. The others works were considered 10% of the whole
project.
Figure S-curve for the construction plan of Homalin Bridge.
 3.4 Schedule Control

3.4.1 Delay-1 (Delay during the preparation stage of the Project)

Lands compensation

. Completion for negotiation with local farmers is unpredictable. In actual, it took 4 more months to come to an
agreement with the local farmers for compensation with the aid of authorities.

To reduce the delay, regional Member of Parliament and prime minister of Sagaing Region helped their best to reach
the consensus with effected land owners.

Tendering processes

The Least Cost Selection Method was used for selection of successful company. There are some delays in procurement
of construction material by tendering as suppliers were forced to use the cheapest transportation method. Most of
them could not deliver as per contract terms deadline. The local contractors for sand and aggregate were also causing
some delay production.
 3.4.2 Delay-2 (Delay during Bored Pile Foundation)

Factors and background for causing delay

In Homalin bridge project, there were seven piers
with 68 bored piles in main bridge and 66 bored
piles in approached bridge section. MOC had
insufficient number of bored pile machines and
some machines were too old to work at full
efficiency. In the schedule, bored pile works were
started in sep-2016 and completed in Dec-2016.
In actual, bore pile work were completed at the
end Jan-2016 and there was one month delay
occurred. For approached bridge piers, the
project director, met with design department and
Figure. Mini Bored Pile Machines Drilling for approached bridge
request to change foundation design with 0.8m Ø
bore piles for the foundation of Homalin side
approached bridge as the contractors for those
sizes were abundant in the contractor market.
 3.4.3 Delay-3 (Delay during construction of Pile Cap)

Factors and background for causing

delay

Pile caps were usually constructed 1

meter above the lowest water level
of the river. In this project, bore piles
foundation for RP4 was completed
15-Oct-2016. By that time, water
level of river was still above pile cap
bed level position. Therefore, the
project members need to wait until
01-Dec-2016 for pile cap
construction. About one-month
delay was occurred due to RP4 pile
cap waiting time as shown in the S- Figure . RP4 Pile Cap construction works
curve figure. By that time, around 2
months of cumulated delay was
already occurred.
 3.4.4 Delay-4 (Delay during Pier Shaft and Cross Beam construction)

Factors and background for causing delay

Construction of main piers shaft works of

Homalin Bridge were scheduled to start early
December of 2016 and completed by the end of
March 2017. However, due to the consequence of
delay in the pile cap construction, the shaft works
were able to start one month late. Moreover,
construction materials such as angle iron for
formwork were delivered late. There was no
delay in shafts and cross beam works of
approached bridges as the working condition is
not depend on river water level.

Figure 3.16 Shaft and Top Cross Beam works in progress

 3.4.5 Delay-5 (Delay during Fabrication of Steel Truss)

Factors and background for causing delay

JMM Company won the tender for the fabrication of steel truss 120m x 4 span and box girder 60 m x2 spans. JMM also
faced the high volume of order at that time as the other bridge was constructed at the other location on the same river. Due
to JMM factory capacity constraint, one bridge needs to prioritise. The MOC head office decided to fabricate for the other
bridge first. According to the procurement planning, JMM need to complete the fabrication from Jan-2017 to Jun-2017. In
actual, the fabrication process took from April-2017 to Oct-2017. There was three- and half-month delay.

3.4.6 Delay-6 (Delay during Erection of Steel Truss)

Factors and background for causing delay

According to original master schedule plan, steel truss erection must begin in Jun-2017 for RP4 and RP5. The remaining
three spans were arranged to erect during September to end of December, 2017. In fact, there was high flood during July
and August 2017 and the river water level and flow rate is very high and not possible for erection activities. In actual, there
was flooding season began early and the erection schedule for the month of June was not able to carry out. The steel truss
erection was begun in September and completed on 25-Jan-2018. There was one-month delay for overall erection
schedule.
 3.4.7 Delay-7 (Delay during Overlay works)

Factors and background for causing delay

According to the design requirement, the decking slab

laying works can be started for the first span only after
completion of the third span. In the master schedule,
overlaying of decking slab was scheduled from
beginning of Dec-2017 to end of Feb-2018. In actual,
the overlaying works began in the beginning of Dec-
2017 and completed in the middle of March 2018.
Moreover, original schedule of is not tight for this part.
So, there was no significant delay in the Decking Slab &
Handrail and delay occurred in the early stages were
caught up in this part.
Figure Final span erection in progress
 3.5 Analysis: Strength, weakness and recommendations

3.5.1 Analysis for preparation works.

Strength

Financial support for the project is strong and sufficient throughout the project. This factor support strongly for all
schedule to execute without delay due to budget.

Most of the locals support to start the project as soon as possible. The regional authorities and parliament
members also support the project to start early.

Weakness

Some of the land owner, whose land were fall within project area were not pleased with the project. There were no
preliminary statistics of locals acceptance on the project.
3.5.2 Analysis for bored pile

Strength

Most of the project team members were very experienced in bored pile drilling operation for many years.

The changing of construction method and resource mobilisation for bored piling is quick enough to recover the delay due
to machine shortage for 1.5m diameter bored pile to 0.8m diameter bored pile of the approached bridge foundation. Mini
bored pile machine for 0.8m diameter size were available abundantly in the market.

Weakness

Proper machinery equipment for bored pile drilling is not sufficient in the organisation. The current stock of the
machinery are very old model.

Availability and transportation for machine spare parts were very tough due to old model and remote project area.

Recommendation

The machinery stock of the organization should be replaced with new models. The number of machinery also should be
increased. Spare parts inventory management should be improved and closely liaised with OEMs (Original equipment
Manufacturers).
3.5.3 Analysis for pile cap

Strength

All the pile cap construction works were able to complete before river water level raise above the cap level. Therefore,
we are able to avoid the costly construction form works such as water tight cage. Construction materials and working
labour force were easily available at the nearby town. The transportation facilities such as Z craft and crane were
available with reasonable price.

Weakness

There should be enough buffer for the scheduling of pile cap construction and influence of river water level on the
construction process is severe. The flooding level cycle is also tough to predict precisely.

There was shortage for teak supply for the form works of pile cap construction process due to sudden ban on the teak
production due to environmental concern. Planner should consider alternative way of getting supply of form works since
beginning.

Recommendation

Project managers should provide detail working schedule for all work breakdown structures and should communicate
with all stake holders to understand the important of each step-in working schedule, weekly & daily schedule. Also need
to monitor, review and update schedule for all work packages and especially should provide short interval program (SIP)
and taking comment & suggestion from all levels.
3.5.4 Analysis for Pier Shaft and Cross Beam construction

Strength

The project members has the ample amount of working experience related to construction of Pier Shaft and Cross Beam
construction. There was more than sufficient working force were available at that point of time. Construction activities were
carried out with two shift adopting crashing strategy.

Weakness

Construction materials such as angle iron for formwork of pier shaft and cross beam were delivered late.

Recommendation
Project managers should apply integrated schedule management for future projects and need to solve immediately if
schedule problems will be occurred and take prompt action to update schedule with appropriate resource allocating
simultaneously.
3.5.5 Analysis of Fabrication and Transportation of Steel Truss

The planner was schedule at the right time for steel truss delivery time. There was originally sufficient lag in scheduling.

Analysis for Fabrication of Steel Truss

Strength

The schedule of this part does not fall in the critical part. There is about free float about one month originally and there
was lag caused by earlier. Therefore the delay in this schedule did not impact fully to overall project duration. This situation
reduced the dependency to supplier delivery condition to some extent.

Weakness

The steel trusses were purchased from J & M Steel solution which is joint venture of MOC and JFE Company. The deal was
made between internal companies. Therefore, liquidated damage and compensation clauses were not very clear and
effective.

Recommendation
There are no competitive suppliers when it comes to steel fabrication for superstructure of the bridge. JMM is joint venture
business with MOC. Therefore, there is no competition and service level is not sufficient. For the long term, to create
competitive market environment, MOC need to attract more steel suppliers for superstructure of the bridge
 3.6 Lesson Learnt

3.6.1 Logical sequencing of activities

For Homalin Bridge Construction

Project, activities for preparation
works, foundation works, sub-structure
works, super-structure works and
finishing works were sequenced in
details as follow:

Sequence (1): After preparation works,

main B/P work RP5-RP4 and
approached B/P work H1-H4 were
sequenced in parallel.

In the sequence-1, even though

approached bridge and main bridge
bored pile works were sequenced to
construct concurrently, there was not
enough machineries support from head
office. Therefore, method of
construction was changed according to
available machines in the private
market and so is the design. Figure. Critical Method Planning Chart showing the sequences
Therefore, resource availability should
be considered first, before sequence
scheduling.
3.6.2 Duration of activities

Seasonal Effect
After sequencing the activities, we estimated duration of as shown in the below figure.
Season factor has the influence on the duration of the activities. For the steel truss erection works of RP5-RP4 was
planned to carry out from end of the May-2017 to end of the Jun-2017, the beginning of the flooding season. This is also
the first span of erection. We reserved two months buffer for this activity. Steel truss another three span (3x 120m) and
steel box girder (2 x 60m) scheduled to carry out form Sep-2017 to Dec-2017 (4 months). However, the raining season
for this year is started earlier and more raining than usual, the first span (RP5-RP4) erection works could not started as
planned.
The lesson learnt is to reserve more buffer time for seasonal dependent works because the predictability of
the weather and seasonal timing is less accurately lately.

Figure . Master schedule with season

Material
In this project, some construction material such as river shingle, sand and wood are local product available nearby
project region. Cement and ply wood are also available form the local factory. Re-bar, MS plate and admixture were
imported product but those are common. Steel truss and steel box girder were special imported product and there is no
alternative source.
In this project, there was significant delay due to late delivery of steel truss member. All the steel truss members for this
project were produced by JMM Co Ltd by using semi-finished imported product. Therefore, procurement plan for
specially imported material should be set very carefully and systematically. MOC has to expand the market supply for
creating competitive environment and bigger capacity for sourcing.

Machinery
Machineries with sufficient capabilities were vital pillar for project execution according to schedule plan and
predictability for the control. Flexibility and good communication between project team and design department is really
helpful. In this project, we successfully revised the design in the foundation part to adapt the real ground situation faced
by project team. It allowed to increase the machine capacity which helped a lot to accelerate the project. MOC
machineries stock need to be expanded and upgraded further. There are also plan to acquire more machineries and their
related service through open tendering process and it is considered positive move.

Land Acquisition
The land compensation processes the project should not be under estimated in planning. Without land clearance,
project cannot be started and compensation agreement could be messed up uncontrolled if the management is not
smart enough. Negotiation and mediation power of regional authorities and representatives. Land acquisition evaluation
should be included in the feasibility study of the project.

Short Interval Planning

In Homalin Bridge, short interval planning methodology was utilized as a step-by-step strategy to achieve objective in
time. We used three-week interval SIP to track the daily issues to catch up working schedule. For example, we tracked
the daily activities of the labour and machines for bore pile operation. This SIP was used as basic for field resource
allocation and communication tools for commitments. SIP is the bottom up approached tool to track and tackle real
problem on site.
 Chapter 4

Conclusion

Homalin Bridge is the important segment for transportation infrastructure in the upper Sagaing Region.
There is a lot of unexpected delay, difficulties encountered during the construction phases, and eventually project
team can overcome all the difficulties and obstacles with the aid of project scheduling and control tools , team works,
and experiences

The flooding historical data was incorporate in the project scheduling planning to avoid seasonal delay
due to flooding such as mid-river pile cap construction works were completed before the flooding season begun. There
were multiple delays occurred throughout the projects.

Project schedule planning and controlling played very important role in the Homalin Bridge with multiple
impacts on project cost, quality and time. Proper tools such as Gantt chart was utilized in the planning together with
activities list, WBS and CPM for the analysis.

In a positive note, the project also highlight the area for improvement in procurement, machineries,
tendering process, land compensation, steel truss sourcing for the future projects.