N.C.D.C “Human Resource and Skill
Requirements in the Construction Materials and
Building Hardware Sector” Construction investment
accounts for nearly 52.4% of the Gross Fixed Capital
Formation. Investments in construction have a positive
domino effect on supplier industries, thereby contributing
immensely to economic development.. Construction
materials and equipment sector accounts for approximately
8.6% of India’s GDP1 and accounts for nearly two-third of
the total construction costs on an average. The share of
construction materials in project costs ranges from 40-60%
and the corresponding cost for construction equipment
ranges from 5 to 25%. Construction component comprises
nearly 60-80% of project cost of infrastructure projects like
roads, housing etc. In projects like power plants, industrial
plants, etc. the share, though lower, is critical. Construction
materials and equipment sector comprises of various subindustries
such as:
1. Cement 2. Steel 3.Construction equipment
4. Paints & Chemicals
5. Petroleum products and resins 6. Fixtures and fittings
(including electrical wiring) 7. Aggregates such asconcrete and asphalt 8.Timber 9.Tilesand
10.ceramics 11.Aluminium, Glass & Plastics
Since most of the materials are either manufactured locally,
in cottage or small scale industry, data available for
quantifying the exact nature of linkages with construction is
not very accurate. On the other hand, linkages of products
such as paints and petro-products would again be difficult
due to their stronger linkages with other sectors. Whereas in
case of cement and steel, almost 100% of cement
production is consumed in construction and about 40 - 60%
of steel production goes into construction. Thus in this
report we will focus on only three major categories of
construction material and equipment industry, i.e. cement,
steel, and construction equipment.
“Ammad Hassan Khan, Salman Azhar, Arshad
Mahmood, Quality Assurance and Control in the
Construction of Infrastructure Services in Developing
Countries – A Case Study of Pakistan” in that Quality is
one of the critical factors in the success of construction
projects. Quality of construction projects, as well as project
success, can be regarded as the full fillment of expectations
(i.e. the satisfaction) of the project participants. The
construction industry in Pakistan has been struggling with
quality issues for many years. The construction costs can be
significantly reduced if the construction industry embraces
the concept of quality assurance and control that has been
used with great success by service and manufacturing
industries in Pakistan. However, unlike manufacturing and
service industries, where a standard product is regularly
produced, most products of the construction industry are
one-offs, specially designed for a specific purpose. Hence,
attainment of a quality level is difficult both to specify and
to monitor. In this paper, a case study of the quality
assurance and control during the execution of Taunsa
Barrage Emergency Rehabilitation and Modernization
Project contract packages ICB-01 (Sub-weir, downstream
floor of barrage, instrumentation) has been presented. The
Taunsa Barrage Project has been considered as a success
story in the construction of infrastructure development
projects in developing countries. The major part of the civil
works of the Taunsa Barrage Project has been completed.
This paper is focused on the quality assurance and control
using the concept of quality, quality management system
(QMS) and quality management system standards in the
civil construction works. In construction project due to the
involvement of various stakeholders in quality control and
assurance, issues of quality control arise in virtually all the
functional areas of construction activities. Within the
organizational structure of the stakeholders in the Taunsa
Barrage construction project, a limited number of quality
assurance/quality control (QA/QC) personnel were
responsible for an increasingly large workload involving
many more complex practices than found in traditional
construction. To ensure the continued quality of
rehabilitation of the barrage facilities, several approaches
are being considered, including automation. The computeraided
technology in particular shows great promise in
creating tools 119 to assist QA/QC elements. Past
development of QA/QC in Pakistan has shown that the
stakeholders must become involved early in the process to
ensure suitable performance. However, in developing some
QA/QC systems, the stakeholder is not known and the
system cannot be tailored for a particular level of domain
knowledge. When this situation occurs, it is necessary to
provide flexibility in the system to handle users with
differing levels of knowledge about the domain.
Incorporating this flexibility into a computer module is a
major problem in current QA/QC development and different
approaches have been tried to deal with the problem. The
experience of quality control and assurance during the
construction of Taunsa barrage can lead to following
observations:
• The performance specifications for construction operations
specifying the required construction process and specifying
the required quality of finished facility remained absent in
term of application and implementation in the project.
• The statistical sampling methods (variable and attributes)
commonly used for the quality control has not been used in
the project.
• Accurate and useful information collection during
construction is an important part of
maintaining quality performance.
• The capability of the contractors after the pre-qualification
has been evaluated and PQMS are than developed for a
specific project.
• In developing countries like Pakistan the quality
awareness and consciousness limits is required to be
communicated among the stakeholders through seminars,
conferences, workshops etc.
• As in Pakistan, the PQMS as per ISO for the construction
industry is relatively new in implementation and adaptation,
thus project oriented PQMS are prerequisite before the
commencement of the actual construction particularly on
mega projects.
“kenn thun kam,ahmad hilmy,abdul
hamir,the relationship between motions and benefits
on adopting qlassics 7:2006 in malaysia construction”
in that this paper reviews on the building contractor
motivating factor on adopting the newly imposed
quality assurance initiative in malasiya construction
industry. The quality assurance initiative named quality
assessment system in construction (QLASSIC).The
construction industry standards (CIS) CIS 7:2006, It is
introduced by the construction industry development
board of malasiya (CIDB).This QLASSIC system consist
of a building construction standards where all the
contractors must follow the specification of adapting this
system in their construction project. The basic