Construction Projects In Iraq Research Articles

Investigating factors affecting feasibility study of construction projects in iraq

The views at the construction field emboss that construction parties are looking for a higher benefit during implementing aspects of any project. The feasibility study is one of the serious and significant matters in construction sectors as well as in other engineering fields as it has a high impact on investment decision-making. To gain rigorous decisions from decision-makers or contractual parties (client, consultant, and contractor), there is a need for valuable feasibility studies in any construction project. This paper aims to study the influence of some identified factors on feasibility studies as well as the extents of priorities of various feasibility studies. In this paper, the critical factors that have an impact on sequences of initial feasibility studies during the lifecycle of a construction project were identified as well as the associated studies (legal, environment, marketing, technical, managerial, schedule, financial and economic). In this study, 12 factors were identified, analyzed, and thoroughly discussed to have recommendations of their impact on initial feasibility in construction projects in Iraq via a questionnaire survey and a series of expert interviews conducted in Iraq. The Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) as a multi-criteria decision support system was adopted to examine the weight of each factor. In addition, an analysis by the Relative Importance Index (RII) was carried out to rank eight types of feasibility studies in terms of their perceived importance. The results of AHP indicated that the local shortage of database about the feasibility study was the most critical factor. Indeed, RII's result showed that all kinds of feasibility for construction projects in Iraq are not adopted by the client. In fact, the economic feasibility study was the most popular than others.

Theory of Constraints in Construction Projects

Construction projects in Iraq are suffering from constraints (financial, technical, political, legal and environmental) that hamper their work. It is therefore necessary to identify these constraints by following the theories in order to accurately identify and provide useful information to make decisions about production constraints and their impact on work. To achieve its objectives or achieve a level of performance for this goal, so it is necessary to use some theories, including theories of constraints that identify those obstacles and find solutions to those obstacles through the schemes of thinking. The concept of constraints is defined as "a comprehensive management philosophy that aims to achieve a continuous achievement of more than one goal in a project." If the project works to achieve a certain achievement in a project after defining the constraints and types and each according to its importance and impact, Which provides a comprehensive framework for the work of projects, as it helps to identify and treat the obstacles experienced by the projects and work to identify appropriate solutions and through a set of logical thinking throughput that begin studying the current reality of the project that suffers from the obstacles and then search for Constraints A number of proposed solutions are then presented. These solutions are examined and the future results of each solution are identified and useful in addressing the specific problem and the extent of the future impact of its application. The methodology used in the research of extracting indicators from the theoretical and practical framework and finding solutions through the curriculum of the thinking throughput will be used to reach a number of conclusions and recommendations aimed at achieving its objectives

Assessment Risk in Construction Projects in Iraq Using COPRAS-SWARA Combined Method

Risk in the age of globalization has become part of everyday life. Risk exists everywhere, in every area of life. One of these is the construction industry, where risk is a constant element in a big puzzle. This is true for construction projects in Iraq too, where official statistics indicate that most construction projects in Iraq always suffer from delay during the completion period and a significant increase in cost. Therefore, it is necessary to find a way to deal with this certain mater, meaning risk management. Risk management does not mean that the project is without risk, but means that dealing with the risk in different measures to ensure the success of the construction project. Risk management consists of several stages, the most important of which is the identification and assessment of the risks of the project. The objective of this paper is to identify and assess the risks in construction projects in Iraq by combining SWARA and COPRAS methods. To achieve the objective of the study, ten criteria for risk assessment were identified. Later the weights of criteria was determined using the SWARA method. The next step was identification and ranking of risks by using the COPRAS method. The result showed that mismatched plans with documentation, inaccurate surveys and preliminary data of the project, unqualified contractors, unexpected nature of the earth, and delayed implementation due to the contractor's capital deficiency were most important risk in construction projects in Iraq. Therefore, in order to tackle risks in Iraqi projects, there must be consideration of these risks, so as to achieve the goals of the project.

Change Orders in Iraqi Construction Projects

Introduction: Change orders in construction are considered to be one of the greatest controversial problems that must be handled and also considered to be difficult for project management to reasonably resolve as any variation leads to claims. Any construction contract is agreed under the concept of “good faith,” which include that the parties will have to trust each other in order to work on agreeing on a contract and that contract is considered to be reasonable when there is no purpose of taking benefit of the parties throughout the contract life. However, as soon as the contract wants to be changed by generating a change order, the parties behavior changes in relation to the initial “good faith” environment Objective: The aim of the paper is to find the causes of the change order and its effect on the projects and then analyze the causes using data mining techniques. Methods: The methodology of the paper includes the following steps. Several factors that lead to change orders were gathered from the literature review. A questionnaire was formed and then distributed to the managers, owners, contractors and engineers. A review of the project's documents was conducted to find the number of change orders in the project and analysis of the causes of the change orders was done using data mining techniques. Results and Conclusion: The change orders have a harmful impact on the cost and it must be minimized, the change order was analyzed using Adda Boost technique and the accuracy was about 95 which is considered a very good result.

Creating A Fuzzy Logic Model for Early Assessment o Payment Problems in Construction Projects In Iraq

The aim of this research is to create a fuzzy logic model that can aid in assessing payment problems encountered in construction projects in Iraq. The model was created based on the findings of a previous study of the authors in which (67) causes of payment problems in construction projects in Iraq were identified. The causes were ranked by (72) professionals from (38) Iraqi firms based on the frequency and severity of causes. All causes were employed in the model after categorizing them in four groups: owner-related, contractor-related, consultant-related and external causes. The model was constructed using MATLAB Program Software Version 2. Finally the model was tested against (10) real life projects and found to be appropriate to aid owners and contractors in the Iraqi Construction Industry to early assess payment problems in order to take preventive actions.

Examining the Values and Principles of Agile Construction Management in Iraqi Construction Projects

The avoidance of failure in construction projects is not an easy task, which makes the failure of the construction project to achieve its objectives a major problem experienced by all countries in the world, especially Iraq. Where nearly two-thirds of the construction projects in the world have been suffered by significant problems as an increase in the cost of the project, delay in the specified duration for execution, and stopping the project. Therefore it is required to study and apply new methods for managing the construction project to ensure its success and achieve its objectives. The aim of this study is to study the Agile project management method and its impact on the construction project. In addition, to identify the values and principles of Agile project management, which can be applied in the Iraqi construction industry to be adopted it as a new method to manage the construction projects in Iraq. The researcher reviewed the relevant literature to define the method of Agile project management and its methods and impact on the construction project. Then, the researcher conducted a questionnaire survey of a sample of engineers' experts who work in four main parties in the construction project: (beneficiary, supervising, designer, and contractor). The results of this survey showed that it is possible to apply the four values of Agile project management for managing the Iraqi construction projects, and can apply eleven of the twelve principles of Agile project management for managing the Iraqi construction projects.

Evaluation of Legislation Adequacy in Managing Time and Quality Performance in Iraqi Construction Projects- a Bayesian Decision Tree Approach

Delay and quality defects are significant problems in Iraqi construction projects. During the period from 2003-2014, legislation has been changed to enhance the performance of construction project. This change is done by modifying some clauses of legislation and adding or deleting the others. The aim of this study is to evaluate the adequacy of these changes by using questionnaire and Bayesian decision tree model. 30 projects were taken for the period from 2003-2014. Performance of construction project was assessed on one hand by conducting a questionnaire which depend on the impact of legislation clauses on the time and quality performance, while on the other hand Bayesian decision tree model was developed in which qualitative estimate of time and quality performance by using KNIME program. The results of questionnaire estimate the delay from very low to very high and quality from very low to high in Iraqi construction industry. The results of Bayesian decision tree model reveal that the high percentage of construction projects were implemented with very high delay and high level of quality. The model gives good accuracy in prediction time and quality performance about 86.7%. These results show the enhancement in the quality performance is greater than the time performance under the legislative change. The model can assist the Iraqi legislator in evaluation the impact of legislation on time and quality performance of construction project.

Motivation Factors for Adopting Building Information Modeling (BIM) in Iraq

Building information modeling (BIM) is an integrated and comprehensive system including whatever is related to a construction project and its stages. It represents a unified database for all project data through which project documents are available to all stakeholders. This paper evaluates the factors driving the adoption of BIM in Iraqi construction projects in different ministries and adopts quantitative approach to collect data by using a questionnaire survey specially prepared for this purpose which was distributed to experts in the ministries of the Iraqi construction sector. Returned data were subjected to proper statistical analysis. Results showed that the highest motivation for BIM application is to include it in the educational curricula, raise awareness through courses and workshops and contracting with international experts with experience in BIM field.

Building a Management System to Control the Construction Claims in Iraq

The paper deals with claims in construction projects in Iraq and studies their types, causes, impacts, resolution methods and then proposes a management system to control the impacts of claims. Two parts have been done to achieve the research objective (theoretical part and practical part). The findings showed that the main types of the claims are extra work claims, different site condition claims, delay claims and the main causes of the claims are variation of the orders, design errors and omission, delay in payments by owner, variation in quantities and scheduling errors. The claims have bad impacts on the cost by increasing (10% to 25%) and also on the duration of the project by increasing from (25% to 50%).The negotiation is the main method which is used to resolve the claims in the construction project in Iraq. Finally, the proposed claims management system is developed to control the causes of the claims during the preconstruction phase and construction phase.

Building a Management System to Control the Construction Claims in Iraq

The paper deals with claims in construction projects in Iraq and studies their types, causes, impacts, resolution methods and then proposes a management system to control the impacts of claims. Two parts have been done to achieve the research objective (theoretical part and practical part). The findings showed that the main types of the claims are extra work claims, different site condition claims, delay claims and the main causes of the claims are variation of the orders, design errors and omission, delay in payments by owner, variation in quantities and scheduling errors. The claims have bad impacts on the cost by increasing (10% to 25%) and also on the duration of the project by increasing from (25% to 50%).The negotiation is the main method which is used to resolve the claims in the construction project in Iraq. Finally, the proposed claims management system is developed to control the causes of the claims during the preconstruction phase and construction phase.

Building a Management System to Control the Construction Claims in Iraq

The paper deals with claims in construction projects in Iraq and studies their types, causes, impacts, resolution methods and then proposes a management system to control the impacts of claims. Two parts have been done to achieve the research objective (theoretical part and practical part). The findings showed that the main types of the claims are extra work claims, different site condition claims, delay claims and the main causes of the claims are variation of the orders, design errors and omission, delay in payments by owner, variation in quantities and scheduling errors. The claims have bad impacts on the cost by increasing (10% to 25%) and also on the duration of the project by increasing from (25% to 50%).The negotiation is the main method which is used to resolve the claims in the construction project in Iraq. Finally, the proposed claims management system is developed to control the causes of the claims during the preconstruction phase and construction phase.

Testing a Measurement Model of BIM Potential Benefits in Iraqi Construction Projects

Building Information Modeling (BIM) is an integrated and comprehensive system for all that related to the construction project, which includes a set of effective policies, procedures, and computer applications that increase the performance of the project during its life cycle. The objective of this research develops a clear concept about the BIM adoption in Iraq through investigating potential benefits that can be obtained through its application in construction projects also build a measurement model for these benefits. The research methodology was based on quantitative approach which adopted by conducting a questionnaire directed to professionals in the field of construction projects in the public and private sectors supported by personal interviews with respondents either individually or in groups. Three hundred copies of the forms were distributed to the companies, firms and engineering departments of the various ministries of the state. After the data was obtained, two software (SPSS and SmartPLS) was used for analyzing the data and constructing the measurement model. The results showed of all the benefits constructed within three key components. The first is knowledge support for management in term of (costs, data, processes), the second is effective design performance and the third is effective construction performance and all these components were modeled as a measurement model.

An investigation into factors causing delays in highway construction projects in iraq

The highways sector is a prominent sector in any country’s economy because of its impact on the well-being and safety of its citizens. The transport sector has an impact on social improvement and investment in the nation on the illustration that allows access to markets, production, jobs, health and other social services.This study investigates the causes of delay of highway construction projects in Iraq, which is frequent occurrence. Data was collected using questionnaires which were distributed to the key project participants; contractors, owners and consultants. The data were analyzed using the Frequency index and Spearman‟s rank correlation. The top seven causes of project delays were observed to be political decisions and political realities, the economic crisis of the country, delays in materials test of and obtaining the results, delay in monthly payments of contractor, failure treatment of the delays when implementing the project, the effects of weather, rain and high temperatures, delay in activities during implementation. It is recommended to establish an appropriate number of laboratories and adopt the field laboratory mechanism for the external and remote screens. Owners should give special attention to pay progress payment to contractors on time. The competent contractor who has prior experience in implementing the high projects should be selected. The contractor must take into consideration the weather conditions when preparing the time plan necessary to implement the project. The project management should identify these reasons and deal with them quickly in order to reduce the total delay of the project.

Statistical Evaluation for claims and disputes in construction contracts

This research aims to diagnose and identify the causes of claims and disputes between the contractor and the employer, also review the methods used to resolve disputes in construction contracts. In order to achieve the goal of the research, scientific methodology is followed to collect information and data on the subject of claims and disputes in construction projects in Iraq through personal interviews and questionnaire form. The most important results in this research are: the price schedule contract as a kind of competitive contracts is the most important and guarantee for the completion of minimum level of claims and disputes with relative importance of (84.1), compared with the (cost plus a percentage of the cost contract) as a kind of negotiating contracts is the most relative importance of (79.6), and the turnkey contract as a kind of special contracts is the most relative importance of (74.2). The contractor and his agents are one of the most influence sources in occurring claims and disputes in construction contracts with relative importance of (77.4) followed by the contract documents with relative importance of (74.2) and then the employer with relative importance of (73.2). In addition to the long period of litigation and the multiplicity of veto grades are most negative when contractual disputes have resolved by it, and with relative importance of (86), followed by the large number of issues and lack of efficiency and specialty of Judges with relative importance (78.4). Finally, the direct negotiation method (relative importance of 77) is one of the most friendly settlement ways favored by conflicted parties, while the resolution of disputes and claims board (relative importance of 10) occupied the last rank in the friendly settlement ways.

Controlling of Time-Overrun in Construction Projects in Iraq

This paper is about analyzing time overrun in construction projects. The principle targets are centered on researching the causes, effects and strategies for controlling time over-run in development ventures in Iraq. The study has been accomplished based on previous researches in addition to a questionnaire form and case studies. Forty-two factors of time overrun causes under four main responsible parties were distinguished (owner, consultant, contractor, others). Eight major impacts of time overrun were also identified. The questionnaire form was formulated based on the above data and was distributed to the selected respondents which are professionals in construction industry. Depending on the results of the questionnaire form, the major origin of time overrun was found that the contractor is the responsible for most of the time overrun (i.e. Contractor's financial difficulties Shortage of skilled manpower and the other causes related to him). The most important two impacts of time overrun were Increase the cost of the project, Quality degradation and Increasing in overhead expenses, the highest percentage of time-overrun in the nine existed project 319% and the most common causes were (change in economic condition and Company's lack of experience).According to the research findings a management system has been proposed to control on the time overrun in construction projects.

Investigation Cost Deviation of Highway Project

Cost mangement of highway projects just as important as the other elements. This research involves on investigation the cost management status of the highway construction projects in Iraq. Survey includes investigate and evaluation the reality of cost planning and control and determine the causes of construction cost deviation. Causes of cost deviation has been investigated and collected by conducting the personal interviews and questionnaire with the sites engineers and by reviewing the previous literature. Questionnaire form was designed by following a simple method, because the questionnaire as an important source of acquiring field information and data. Iraqi Road and Bridge Directorate was selected as a sample study. It is worth to mention, that the statistical analysis has been conducted by using the SPSS program (version 20). Cost deviation reasons had classified into three groups by the researchers, which they planning reasons, designing reasons, execution reasons. Planning reasons classification had take a relative importance equal to 2.7, designing reasons classification had take a relative importance equal to 3 and execution reasons classification had take a relative importance equal to 2.45 according to this study.

Design a System to Estimate the Road Construction Project Preliminary Equipment Requirements in the Design Stage

Road construction projects in Iraq require a developmental study of the planning process toward building computerized management systems. In this thesis, a management system has been built, based on artificial neural networks and genetic algorithms. The proposed software estimates the optimal number of equipment, machineries, and relevance instruments required according to progress table of the work during the proposed implementation period of the project. Artificial neural network systems have been adopted to build models to predict the productivity of the equipment used in road construction projects, based on the factors that affecting the productivity of these mechanisms. By implementing the system and simulating at road project, several conclusions have been conducted. One of the most important conclusions is that the optimal distribution of the numbers and types of machineries used in road construction has a significant impact on the time of implementation of project.

Valuation the Impact of Risks on the Goals and the Safety of Construction Projects in Iraq

Construction projects have a special nature and affect them many factors making them exposed to multiple risks as a result of the length of the implementation period and the multiplicity of stages, starting from the decision stage through implementation until the final delivery, which leads to increased uncertainty and the likelihood of risk. The process of analysis and risk management is one of the effective and productive methods that are used in managing the construction projects for the purpose of increasing the chances of ending the project successfully in terms of cost, time and quality and at the lowest possible problems.
 The research aims first to the effective planning for analysis and risk management with different levels of importance according to specific strategy and effective based on experts in the field of risk management and, second, reaching measures to respond to the risks in order to ensure the management of these risks in construction projects. In this research a number of risks are identified which that have been incurred actually after studying a number of completed construction projects and theoretical studies and interview a number of experts in the construction industry to determine the impact of these risks in each of the project's objectives and safety.
 It appeared that the most important risks in construction projects in Iraq is ( the lack of drawings for networks service through the site such as electrical drawings, phone, water, etc.) and ( differences between the implementation and the required specifications because of a misunderstanding of the plans and specifications, It also appeared that the biggest effect of the risks is the on the duration of the project and the least was on occupational safety, and the best response to the risk is to fix certain conditions in the contract followed by other responses.

Performance Improvement of the Implementation of Concrete Structures in the Construction Sector In Iraq Using The Modern Management Technique “Six Sigma”

The reality of the field of construction projects in Iraq refers to needing for the development of performance in order to improve quality and reduce defects and errors and to control the time and cost, so there is needing for the application of effective methods in this area, one of the methods that can be applied in this area is the manner of Six Sigma. This research aims to enhance the performance and quality improvement for the construction projects by improving performance in the work of the implementation of the concrete structure depending on the Six Sigma methodology, and for the purpose of achieving the aim of the research, the researcher firstly depends on the theoretical study that include the concepts of quality and the Six Sigma methodology as a system aims to reduce defects and improve the quality and secondly on the field study carried out by the researcher through conducting the open questionnaire that include interviews conducted by the researcher with a slice of engineers experienced in the implementation of construction projects that leads to design closed questionnaire included the major axes of the research and distributed on a selected sample of engineers with expertise in this area. The researcher applying the (DMAIC) methodology is one of the methods adopted for the application of Six Sigma on the case study (the project of structures laboratory at University of Baghdad) for the purpose of identifying the most important defects that may appear in the implementation of the concrete structure and assess the quality of implementation of the concrete structure and then analyzing the causes of these defects and propose procedures to enhance the performance and quality improvement depending on the field survey was conducted. The most important research conclusions are sigma level for the case study is 2.35 and the number of defects per million opportunities is 211905 and this Sigma level is very small which indicates the low level of quality for the case study.

이라크 현대아파트에 나타나는 전통 주거문화와 공간의 연속성에 관한 연구

As demands for housing are rapidly increasing, many apartments are being built by foreign construction companies with high technical skills. However, in these cases, traditional characteristics can easily not be considered. The aim of this research is to study which elements of traditional residential culture and spaces are still continued in modern residential spaces and which element have disappeared due to modernization in Iraq. Plans of traditional courtyard houses and modern apartments in Iraq have been compared through review study, interviews, and analysis using Space Syntax. Results have shown how traditional cultures about protecting privacy and inviting guests have been continued in the modern culture and are also considered when planning apartments in Iraq. Also, spaces which are made to control temperature in hot and dry climates have disappeared and the kitchen is no longer a space for only women. Based on this study, further research is needed to develop a apartment prototype which consider cultures of Iraq. It is expected that Korean construction companies can use this as basic data when participating in apartment construction projects in Iraq.