Owner's risk management for civil construction projects in Vietnam | |
| Author | Nguyen Thanh Huy |
| Call Number | AIT Thesis no.CM-05-4 |
| Subject(s) | Risk management--Vietnam Construction industry--Vietnam |
| Note | A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Engineering, School of Engineering and Technology |
| Publisher | Asian Institute of Technology |
| Abstract | Risk and uncertainty are inherent in all construction works irrespective of size, complexity, location, or even the speed of construction. For years the construction industry has had a very poor reputation for coping with risk, with many major projects failing to meet deadlines and cost targets. Both clients and contractors have suffered as a result of this. Nevertheless, like many other developing countries, Vietnam has encountered many problems that caused negative impacts on many construction projects. One of them is the lack of systematic risk management. Consequently, an assessment of present risk management practiced in civil construction projects may be useful to those involved as well as to improve this system in the future. This research focuses on the identification of major risk factors that owners often face in civil construction projects. A questionnaire survey involving sixty seven engineers from owner organization was designed and executed. The perceptions about the influence of experience and companies' size levels towards risk events are tested. Moreover, the research identified major difficulties that owners often face when they apply risk management on projects. In addition, in this research, the case study about the application of risk management in practice was conducted by interviewing the respondents in two chosen public entities (one large public entity and one small public entity). The above main points are useful because they can serve as lessons learned for the companies which are going to implement or improve risk management. The key risk factors identified are: (1) Incompetent consultant/designer/project owner, (2) Social issues, (3) Contractor issues, (4) Approval issues, and (5) Improper feasibility study. Major difficulties that owners faced with when they applied risk management in practice are: (1) Lack of qualified experts, this is the main obstacle thoroughly appearing in many main processes in risk management cycle, (2) Lack of historical data, (3) Poor communication among responsible people and (4) Unfamiliarity with tools and techniques. Hypothesis testing also pointed out that perceptions towards risk events were not dependent upon the level of experience and the size of companies. Furthermore, by conducting the case study, the application of risk management in practice was only evaluated at the medium level. Additionally, it is noticeable that in both entities there is no formalized framework, procedure and system for risk management. Moreover, there is also no person or department assigned to manage risks. The practitioners depend on their experiences from past projects to handle risks |
| Year | 2005 |
| Type | Thesis |
| School | School of Engineering and Technology (SET) |
| Department | Department of Civil and Infrastucture Engineering (DCIE) |
| Academic Program/FoS | Construction Engineering and Infrastructure Management (CM) |
| Chairperson(s) | Ogunlana, Stephen 0. |
| Examination Committee(s) | Hadikusumo, B. H. W.;Do Ba Khang |
| Scholarship Donor(s) | Asian Institute of Technology Fellowship |
| Degree | Thesis (M.Eng.) - Asian Institute of Technology, 2005 |