Monday, December 04, 2017
SOME REASONS WHY ROAD PROJECTS ENDURE DELAYS AND EXTENSIONS IN THE SOUTHEASTERN PART OF LIBERIA
This paper was initiated from a personal in-depth analysis of the
close association with laterite road works in the southeastern part of Liberia
since 1986. It will be prudent if my conclusive opinion could actually be scientifically
researched and studied, to validate or to refute, so that by the end of the
day, there should be a win-win solution for all, most especially for the people
of the project area who are the direct beneficiaries of all developmental
projects.
The age old narrative that in Liberia, the rainy season runs from
May to October does not hold true anymore from the geographical boundary of the
City of Harper, Maryland County through the rugged landscape to the City of
Fish Town, River Gee County; however, if that was the case in the past prior to
the Global Warming phenomenon, it definitely has changed and that narrative
needs to be altered.
There are four contributing factors that have generated such opinion:
- The insitu materials along the project road (laterite, fine sand, sandy clay, mud, inland swamps, etc.);
- Laterite and the other insitu materials do not perform well under intense precipitation when disturbed; moreover, borrowed materials are observed to contain high water content than the required optimal moisture and require additional workability when placed on the road bed for use.
- The intense daily rainfall;
- Intense rainfall and limited dry days make it difficult to work continuously in order to keep up with the work schedule and achieve the various targeted milestones.
- The Procurement Mode - The total volume of work to be completed within the given project time frame;
- Procurement for civil works in such harsh territory should be minimal in terms of linear configuration, number of water crossing structures and conduits for future utilities. The total length of any proposed road section must not exceed twenty (25) miles or forty (40) kilometers whilst the duration should be thirty-six (36) months including twelve (12) months of defeats liability.
- The access road to the project site – The distance from the City of Monrovia to the City of Harper is between 632 km by way of the Buchanan-Greenville Highway and 765 km by way of the Ganta-Zwedru Highway. The route more favorably used by most Contractors is the Ganta-Zwedru Highway. On this section of the Ganta-Zwedru Highway, only 262 km section is paved and the remaining 503 km section of the road is unpaved and barely passable during the rainy season.
- Due to the condition of the road during the rainy season, construction supplies and materials are difficult to be transported to the site for use, which cause tremendous lack of logistics.
It is my honest opinion that if the four contributing factors were
considered, in the absence of the existing mode of operation in the
implementation of road construction in the southeastern part of Liberia, the
perpetual requests for multiple extensions will be a thing of the past and
civil work projects will be completed as planned and a win-win for all will be
observed and celebrated.
In addition to the above, various options of the mode of
construction could be considered; such as, types of pavements – flexible versus
rigid pavement including types of protections during construction.
It is of my opinion that to continue the status quo of road
construction as implemented to date in the southeast, the following scenarios
could be the genesis to initiate such change:
- The final cost of the project could mushroom exponentially;
- The original duration could be extended several times;
- The Contract could be terminated;
- The Contractor could abandon the project;
- Absolutely no work schedule could ever be followed to achieve targeted milestones.
With the constant daily rainfall that have overwhelmed the project
area of the Fish Town Harper Road Project, which have rendered the revised work
scheduled worthless; in my mind, demonstrates the findings that instead of
having a construction season of six (6) months or 180 calendar days, the
realistic construction season in that part of Liberia should actually be three
(3) months or 90 calendar days.
In conclusion of this analysis of the reason why there is a
considerably likelihood for delays and extensions of projects implemented in
the southeastern part of Liberia, I believe I have stated the case that should
intrigue any enlightened mind to further investigate the situation and develop
a workable solution so as to address the stress and hardship of managing any
project in that part of the Country to bring relief to the inhabitants of that
scenic surrounding.
Please find below Historical
Rainfall Data that
covered the period starting from 1927 to
1946 collated by Reconnaissance; from January 2003 to April 2010 collated by BTNED,
the Consultant who did the original design for the Rehabilitation of the Fish
Town Harper Road and the most recent Rainfall Data collected by the present
Consultant, Comptran.
Rainfall Data
compiled and used by BTNED
|
|
YEAR (mm)
|
MONTHLY
|
||||||||
|
MONTH
|
2003
|
2004
|
2005
|
2006
|
2007
|
2008
|
2009
|
2010
|
2011
|
AVE
|
|
JANUARY
|
8
|
19
|
79
|
3
|
0
|
0
|
9
|
29
|
193
|
38
|
|
FEBRUARY
|
31
|
32
|
37
|
59
|
63
|
12
|
11
|
33
|
286
|
63
|
|
MARCH
|
5
|
16
|
37
|
50
|
51
|
73
|
13
|
209
|
361
|
91
|
|
APRIL
|
199
|
335
|
224
|
91
|
111
|
64
|
64
|
138
|
333
|
173
|
|
MAY
|
305
|
230
|
155
|
61
|
163
|
79
|
81
|
|
409
|
185
|
|
JUNE
|
771
|
579
|
349
|
231
|
320
|
223
|
211
|
|
357
|
380
|
|
JULY
|
1345
|
692
|
393
|
493
|
630
|
334
|
365
|
|
123
|
547
|
|
AUGUST
|
626
|
539
|
464
|
415
|
430
|
388
|
446
|
|
310
|
452
|
|
SEPTEMBER
|
690
|
147
|
508
|
297
|
285
|
417
|
490
|
|
139
|
372
|
|
OCTOBER
|
239
|
460
|
193
|
142
|
298
|
151
|
502
|
|
511
|
312
|
|
NOVEMBER
|
220
|
167
|
69
|
28
|
92
|
65
|
296
|
|
193
|
141
|
|
DECEMEBER
|
61
|
80
|
23
|
1
|
50
|
43
|
1
|
|
|
37
|
|
TOTAL(ANNUAL)
|
4500
|
3296
|
2531
|
1871
|
2493
|
1849
|
2489
|
409
|
3215
|
2,517
|
|
ANNUAL(MONTHLY AVERAGE)
|
375
|
275
|
211
|
156
|
208
|
154
|
207
|
102
|
292
|
229
|
|
Weather Record for the
Month of October 2017
Comptran's Monthly Report
: Page 117 of 149
|
||
|
Date
|
Rainfall (mm)
|
Comments
|
|
Gauge 1
|
||
|
1
|
0.00
|
Sunny
|
|
2
|
24.30
|
Rainy
|
|
3
|
0.00
|
Cloudy
|
|
4
|
0.00
|
Cloudy
|
|
5
|
23.00
|
Rainy
|
|
6
|
45.50
|
Rainy
|
|
7
|
39.00
|
Rainy
|
|
8
|
26.00
|
Rainy
|
|
9
|
53.00
|
Rainy
|
|
10
|
71.00
|
Rainy
|
|
11
|
40.50
|
Rainy
|
|
12
|
0.00
|
Cloudy
|
|
13
|
0.00
|
Cloudy
|
|
14
|
0.00
|
Cloudy
|
|
15
|
2.20
|
Slight
Showers
|
|
16
|
0.00
|
Cloudy
|
|
17
|
0.00
|
Cloudy
|
|
18
|
0.00
|
Cloudy
|
|
19
|
2.70
|
Slight
Showers
|
|
20
|
0.00
|
Cloudy
|
|
21
|
0.00
|
Sunny
|
|
22
|
0.00
|
Sunny
|
|
23
|
0.00
|
Sunny
|
|
24
|
0.00
|
Sunny
|
|
25
|
0.00
|
Cloudy
|
|
26
|
21.00
|
Rainy
|
|
27
|
15.00
|
Rainy
|
|
28
|
12.50
|
Rainy
|
|
29
|
1.00
|
Slight
Showers
|
|
30
|
0.00
|
Cloudy
|
|
31
|
2.50
|
Rainy
|
|
Rainiest
Day Rainfall
|
71 mm
|
|
|
Total
Rainfall
|
379.20
|
|
|
Avg.
Rainfall
|
25.28
|
|
