Evaluating the effect of the accelerated construction method on project life-cycle cost

Abstract

Construction contributes to city development. In Egypt, many projects have been established using the accelerated construction method (ACM), and others using the traditional construction method (TCM). Their life-cycle cost (LCC) is analysed to determine the benefit–cost (BC) and determine the optimum construction method. In this paper, a comparative study between the LCCs of the ACM and TCM was carried out to improve decision making to make reasonable judgements on the economics of projects throughout their life cycle. The main question is, what is the optimum way of construction to reach the highest BC? The Mostafa El-Nahas axis in Cairo, Egypt, was studied using LCC analysis to determine the development BC by analysing the traffic impact before and after development. The cost of operating the project consists of elements including the fuel consumed in cars and the exhaust resulting from the combustion of this fuel. Amounts of money saved from operation cost by the ACM were expressed by the case study BC. The main findings were that government entities should develop guidelines establishing the maximum time for construction. According to a prior study, extending the construction time had no detrimental impact on public interest in these places. The LCC study of the project was used to estimate construction time. Guidelines should be established that specify the regions to be classified based on traffic and population and the maximum time for construction.