This study aims to reveal the structure of public satisfaction for infrastructure development. First, items in questionnaire sheets were arranged by using KJ method. Second, questionnaire surveys were done in two districts, that is, Makabe town as a typical of rural district and Denenchofu district as a typical of urban district. Covariance Structure Analysis was applied to those data. The findings of this study are shown as follows; 1) It was turned out that satisfaction degree vary between districts. Hence, it seems reasonable to suppose that satisfaction depends on infrastructure development level. 2) From the analysis, satisfaction structures for safety were common between two districts. 3) The structure of satisfaction for reassurance and for convenience differ each other. However, factors adopted in models were classifiable into common factors and non-common factors. 4) Common factors are always needed to be satisfied. Non-common factors will be needed after being satisfied common factors.

View full abstract

CM (Construction Management) system is recently considered to apply to dam projects in order to clear the profile of construction costs. In this paper, we have compared usual one-package order with separated order by CM system in the case of fill-dam project that requires the strong unity of quarry activities with filling activities. In the consequence, it is cleared the problems newly arisen to construction site management, responsibility and risk for construction manager, and the tendency of increase of total risks in the case of introducing separated order by CM system into fill-dam projects.

View full abstract

Analysis on the contract documents including technical specifications was from the viewpoint of private position for the purpose of achieving cost-efficient dam construction. First, problems and risks were picked up from the present clauses of contracts, specifications, and on-site explanations. Then, risk evaluation was examined on each clause considering the share between the owner and the contractor. Consequently, it was found out that the owner and the contractor approximately share the risks evenly and both sides should pay attention to risky clauses such as condition change and work suspension on the contracts and aggregates and concrete work on the specifications.

View full abstract

This paper is to call all relative people's attention to the problems with the expressway's functions in the VE (Value Engineering) for design. Since 1997, many VE missions f or highway designing have been carried out in Japan by the different VE teams, and that have let us to cut the highway project costs in billions. However, for most of these VE activities, nobody could answer all questions relative with the function definition and the laws. Thus, we write this paper to express our viewpoints on how to define the expressway's function since we think that it is the essential and one of the most important problems in the process of VE for expressway s' design. Further, we discuss the possibilities and limitations of the VE for highways' design. Finally, we make our suggestions and call all the relative people to think this problem again for the reliable VE activities to be implemented for the highways' design in the future.

View full abstract

This paper describes results of monitoring and analyzing trial of Advisor System which was proposed at Consulting Engineering Tender & Contract Committee in the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport. In this system, a public works owner with less capability employs a consultant as an advisor to get technical advices during planning stage, design stage, tender stage, etc.
Based on interviews with owners, advisors and consultants, we could classify six trials into four patterns, and we could verify the effectiveness of the system in terms of workload reduction and security of engineering quality. However, authority and responsibility of advisors and fee estimation method are raised up for the future task.

View full abstract

Labor accidents are brought about either by machine malfunctioning or by human mistakes/errors (human factors). In the current safety management, however, accident prevention measures have laid emphasis on education and training, primarily aiming at their prevention. Notwithstanding, in the present situation where technology has been highly advanced, it is imperative to firmly establish an “absolute safety” by adopting a concept of “fail -safe” in which safety of human being (laborer) shall be secured even if machine troubles or human mistakes occur, based on the acknowledgement of the fact that “machine may fall in troubles; man may make mistakes”.
In this writing, fail-safe-wise examination is made centering around the concept of securing safety of human being, not by discussing “fail-safe” itself, but by indicating, as a proposal, an application of the concept similar to “fail-safe” to a concrete case in the construction industry.

View full abstract

This paper describes how public works owners evaluate construction technologies when a new construction technology is developed, when it is considered to apply to a specific project, and when it is evaluated after completion of the project in order to improve the new construction technologies database. The evaluation system is essential for public works owners to apply new construction technologies, which could bring about less cost and better quality. In this research, an evaluation platform common to each evaluation phase is proposed. In the platform, evaluation items are classified into objective levels, derivative levels, natural conditions, site conditions and management characteristics.

View full abstract

The Japanese Government is issuing bonds and raising public loans to meet the Policy projects In fiscal 1998, the balance of national and local long-term debts, including government bonds and borrowings, exceeded the Gross Domestic Product (GDP), and at the end of fiscal 2000 it is expected that the balance of government bonds will top Y390 trillion and that of all long-term debts will top Y660 trillion.
Under such fiscal conditions, ministries and government agencies involved in public works, such as the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport (former Ministry of Construction), have introduced a evaluation system for public works projects and new bidding and contracting system In order to ensure that fiscal structural reform is carried out effectively, it is also necessary to implement public works projects efficiently and to enhance its transparency. In terms of effective execution of public works projects, the Board of Audit performs audits with a view of promoting cost savings and improvement of quality in public works.
This study is an analysis of the findings by the Board of Audit on public works projects and how the new bidding/contracting system of public works and evaluation system are applied, and examines the realiv and problems related to the evaluation of public works

View full abstract

This study aims to reveal the structure of public satisfaction for infrastructure development. First, items in questionnaire sheets were arranged by using KJ method. Second, questionnaire surveys were done in two districts, that is, Makabe town as a typical of rural district and Denenchofu district as a typical of urban district. Covariance Structure Analysis was applied to those data. The findings of this study are shown as follows; 1) It was turned out that satisfaction degree vary between districts. Hence, it seems reasonable to suppose that satisfaction depends on infrastructure development level. 2) From the analysis, satisfaction structures for safety were common between two districts. 3) The structure of satisfaction for reassurance and for convenience differ each other. However, factors adopted in models were classifiable into common factors and non-common factors. 4) Common factors are always needed to be satisfied. Non-common factors will be needed after being satisfied common factors.

View full abstract

Like big cities, the central part of a small city like Nagano has been losing its residents. This loss has caused many problems such as the economic inactivity of the entire city. As a possible solution, a scrap-and-build plan for the six elementary schools in the central part of Nagano is being considered by the municipal government. In this plan, it is recommended that at least four of the six schools be closed and that two new schools be build in another area in the near future. The plan aims to reuse the land formally occupied by the scrapped schools, too.
This plan is considered to be necessary to reactivate the city's commerce and educational system. However, the loss of the schools will greatly affect both the parents and local residents. Therefore, in this paper, in order to evaluate the environmental value of the two schools that will be scrapped, the contingent valuation method (CVM) is applied using software (LIMDEP ver. 7).
From this research, it is concluded that the two schools to be scrapped have the environmental worth to the residents. Therefore, the involvement management for the residents is needed to make a decision of reconstructing the infrastructures.

View full abstract

The Prestressed Concrete (PC) construction industry has grown in parallel with thedevelopment of social infrastructure and PC technology over the past half a century, producing sales of 500 billion yenper year. However, nowadays, the construction market has been exposed to a reduction trend due to rapid change of the social and economic condition. Therefore, in order to develop the PC construction industry in the mid- and long-term prospect, a significant issue is how PC will attain structural material superiority over steel and reinforced concrete. As a measure, improvement in labor productivity, reduction in environmental impact, and reduction in the life-cycle cost are considered.
This report proposes the promotion of precast method based on the understanding of the current PC construction industry, the favorable comparison of the construction method to others by each indictor, and the investigation of the production system in both Japan and the U. S.

View full abstract

A lot of structure relocation sequentially occur in a land readjustment project at urbanized areas. They cause the difficulties in project management such as control of work schedule, delay of construction period, increase of cost, and so on. It is difficult to find the best work schedule with the lowest construction cost for the reason of the multiplicity of working process. It is required to develop a method that systematically select adequate work unit and schedule.
This paper describe a system based on Critical Path Method that can find the optimum period and work schedule with the lowest cost. After the assessment of the validity using a virtual project, the system was applied to a constructing project. Output results show that the system gives us very useful information on the relation between the construction period and the lowest cost, optimum work schedule and relocation manners.

View full abstract

This study estimates the technique of reconstructing the infrastructures by PFI method. The improvement of existing local transit is considered to investigate the possibility of LRT construction by the PFI method, as the case study. The various risks related to the enterprose management are taken into consideration to realize this planning. In order to decrease the demand risk that is serious to the private investor, the tax payment system for automobiles is introduced in this plan to protect the pollution by cars.

View full abstract

Value Engineering (VE) was first invented in the United States after the 2nd World War. The contractor industry in Japan began to show interest in VE in late 1960s when the tight fiscal policy was implemented after the economic slump following the 1st oil shock.At that time, VE was mainly used as a means of cutting construction cost in the private sector.
In recent years, however, the state and local governments VF has been introducing VE in their effort in cutting publicworks expenditures.
In terms of effective execution of public works projects, the Board of Audit performs audits with a view of promoting cost savings and improvement of quality in public works. This research article examines the concept of VE, the use of VE in the state and local governments and in private sector corporations, and problems in introducing VE.

View full abstract

In this paper, a methodology to investigate the risk and profit sharing schemes of oversea construction works is presented. In oversea projects, many stakeholders who may have different contract practices or sense of values are involved, thus making it a challenging task to arrange an efficient risk and profit sharing structure among stakeholders. Cash flows in oversea projects are generally characterized by various risks. The contract schemes for loan and liabilities regulate risk sharing among the projects' stakeholders. In order to investigate the profitability structure, the project values and profit accruable to project companies must be evaluated against market evaluation of project risks. In this paper, a unified framework that applies financial engineering methods is presented to compare the risk and profit sharing structure among different project schemes. The methodology presented is then applied to a project implemented in A-country.

View full abstract

In the Japanese public works construction contract (Standard Form of Agreement and General Conditions of Government Contract Works of Building and Civil Engineering Construction; GCW called hereinafter), the Employer supervises and certifies the contractor's works. Assessment of the additional payment and adjustment of the time for completion are to be made by the Employer, while the Contractor has no obligation to prove his loss or damages and excusable delay. This achieves an efficient contract if the Employer is capable of assessment of variations and any other claims, and there is a mutual trust between the parties. FIDIC, which is widely used in the international construction market, -does not have such premises. The Employer engages a consulting engineer or a consultant company as the Engineer. The Engineer is expected to play two roles (Dual Role), one of which is, as an agent of the Employer, to supervise, monitor and report the performance of the Contractor to the Employer and the other is to certify the Contractor's works as an independent and impartial professional. FIDIC revised its 4th edition drastically and published it as the first edition, 1999 in order to release the Engineer from such a harsh task of the Dual Role. In this study, the procedures of claims and dispute resolution in both GCW and FIDIC are reviewed and compared. First, the fundamental differences between them are discussed. The issues of GCW are also discussed. Second, the role of the Engineer and the DAB of the new FIDIC is compared. The difference between DAB and DRB is also discussed.

View full abstract

This paper is to clarify what form of contract mechanism enables the optimal cost and schedule in construction works, using graphical analysis. The relationship between cost and schedule in terms of various technologies is defined and how the contractor decide the schedule maximising the profit are induced. The procurer tries to maximise the social benefit by realising the optimal schedule but in most of the case the procurer has no precise information on the technology adopted by the contractor. It is shown that in such a case the procurer should set the contract mechanism as a parallel transition of the gross social benefit curve.

View full abstract

Recently, the purpose of waste management system has been expanded on the key word “recycling”. Worldwide researches and activities to the resources preservation, such as a global environment, are activated all the more. The waste management problem that is the big factor of those problems is coming to be taken greatly. Moreover, in Japan there is a problem of the securing difficulty of the final disposal place. The waste management system is coming into the time of the reform in our country.
In this paper we developed the planning model of the waste management system as a tool of creating the information for support a desirable planning of waste management system including recycling, and model analysis on actual level was examined through case study analysis at Kusatsu-City, Moriyama-City, Ritto-Cho, Yasu-Cho and Chuzu-Cho.

View full abstract

This study evaluat es the effects of introduction of both IS09000 series and construction management systems to construction sector and clarifies the preference rankings of requirements for quality management in terms of the questionnaire s survey on certification of IS09000 series and its background for three construction sectors. The surveys were carried out in 1996 and 2001. As a result, there are wide differences of the preference rankings of requirements for quality management between owners and acceptant. A latent stru cture of IS09000 series and its background were modeled based on an analysis of covariance structure. Consequently, it is clarified that extent of consulting on the construction management system affects the evaluation of acceptant for ISO9000 series.

View full abstract

Electric Power Development Co., LTD applied the design build method for the main cables tunnel of ISOGO renewal thermal power plant in fiscal 1997. We study the application in the point of cost estimation, contract, payment, completion inspection, engineering evaluation, and comprehensive evaluation.
The application process makes it clear that there are such problems as designers' responsibility for cost estimation, presentation of geographical condition, technical capability of operation and maintenance, and arrangement of how to apply documents, which we should tackle with. Therefore, we propose the design built method as one way to solve these problems. This method enables us to induce their own technology which construction companies have. Furthermore, we show the effectiveness of the cost estimation alternative method introduced as one of the design built methods.
We consider it important to clarify the sharing of risks between orderers and orders receivers in order the design built methods work well in future.

View full abstract

This paper is made for the purpose of the clarification of the current situation regarding the local public procureme nt using of the IT in Japan. Through the reserch into the localgovernments'IT, the confirmation was made about the fa ct that IT can be expected for advancing of public procurement activities, and that local governments are proceeding to prepare IT facilities. However due to the technical, human, and financial problems involved in these local government s, progress would not always be made as the action program indicated by New Law "NYUKEI HO".

View full abstract

In this paper, evaluation of engineering ability of steel bridge superstructure istudied as pre-qualification of tendering. General competition tender and public offering tender are focused and present way of evaluations of engineering ability in the tender systems are considered by examining cases in past.
Basic pre-qualification of corporations and/or joint ventures interested public works are based on the results of evaluation on items for corporate managemnts. In this evaluation systemengineering ability is counted as numbers of engineers andtechnicians. On the other hand projec1wise engineering ability is evaluated mainly from the viewpoint of similar past experiences of the corporations and allocationf experienced and qualified engineers.
The change of tendering system is clarified firstly and then 49 cases of engineering conditions of tenderers for general competition tender and public offering tender are examined. The results are studied and considered and finally an idea for the evaluation of engineering ability for steel bridge superstructure contract is proposed.

View full abstract

It is investigated to introduce CM method to public construction project, so far CM method is introduced to private building project in Japan. In case of popularizing CM method in Japan, it is anticipated that new safety management will be appeared different from present safety management to be performed by general construction company on these projects. The role and responsibility of safety management is notclear between CMR (Construction manager) and contractors on Occupational Safety and Health Act in Japan. In this paper, we try to be clear safety problem of CM, and study proper safety management of CM.

View full abstract

A new quantitative index for construction investment is desirable from the viewpoint of the amount of structures which have been constructed to discuss on construction investment. The regional difference in the amount of construction investment in Japan was considered through the consumption of ready-mixed concrete in each prefecture of Japan in the year of 2000. The author employed the consumption of ready-mixed concrete as a simple and clear quantitative index for the amount of structures, in addition to the conventional indices for construction investment indicated with money. The consumption of ready-mixed concrete was divided into for private and public uses. It was found that the relationship between the population of each prefecture and its consumption of ready-mixed concrete for private use was almost proportional. That can be reflected by the construction demand for private use mostly generated from the population only. On the other hand, it was found that the relationship between the population of each prefecture and its consumption of ready-mixed concrete for public use was not proportional and that the smaller population corresponded to the larger consumption of ready-mixed concrete per capita. It can be concluded that some amount of construction investment for public use is indispensable despite of the population from the viewpoint of development of infrastructure.

View full abstract

The construction site manager (CSM) is a key actor in the construction phase to cope with various kinds of dynamic resource constraints and to fulfill required project goals. Many leadership studies have been conducted in the manufacturing industry, but a little is known in the construction industry. In this paper an attempt is made to investigate current practices in leadership styles of CSMs in building construction projects in Thailand.
It is found that the studied CSMs are perceived to use the directive styles most and the supportive style least by their subordinates. At the sites where the participative style is perceived to be taken, performance of the subordinate group is high. At the sites where the supportive style is perceived to be taken, the subordinates' job satisfaction is high. As determinants of leadership style, quality of finished products and ethics are particularly important. Personal attributes of an immediate subordinate such as work experience and knowledge are also significant.

View full abstract