The Delay Factors in EPC Contracts in Viet Nam: Case study of Uong bi Thermal Power Plant

Delay in any construction project is inevitable. In construction stage of the project, anticipating many factors that cause delay is one of the important works of the project manager. Therefore, project managers should give solutions for these before the construction starts. However in Vietnam, sometimes both owners and consultants do not care about this, which is why many construction projects are delayed.

In particular, all thermal power plants, fertilizer plants and other projects executed by EPC contractors were delayed by usually 1 to 2 years.

Even though various studies have been considered to know the causes of delays, still, seldom discuss about the common and general causes of delay in construction projects. Thus, comprehensive study on these delays is essential. Since the problems are rather contextual, the study needs to focus on specific causes of delays. Mr. Tran Van Trung made a case study to find out the main factors causing delay and affecting other aspects in Thermal Power plants in Vietnam at all stages of projects.

The objectives of his study were to (1) identify major delays in Thermal Power Plants in Vietnam; (2) identify the major cause (reasons) of delays in Thermal Power Plants in Vietnam; and (3) recommend strategies for improving project delivery based on the finding from the study.

Conclusion

Delay in the construction industry is a serious problem in general and in all the coal-fired Thermal Power plant in Vietnam in particular. The project which was investigated in this study exhibits a delay like in all power plants in Vietnam. Therefore, the results of the research provided a framework for project managers who can better understand the dynamics of project management and taking efforts to reduce incidences of delay.

By administering and analyzing factors affecting the project, this research has identified problems related to delays during construction phase. From these results, once again, it is noted that most causes of delay of the project related to Consultant Company of owner who set up F/S and surveyed site conditions before, and Fishner Company as A/E of owner. Furthermore, subcontractor as PM caused delay in the highest impact, since the quality of its equipment was not reliable and the quantity was not asynchronous in delivery.

In this study, twelve major factors were analyzed to find out the causes, impacts and solutions of delay problems during the construction stage. Although these problems may be unprejudiced or subjective reasons, they were also originated from carelessness in the implementation, management or supervision. Then, this research had deeply analyzed other factors that also affect schedule for each case and summarized some reasons behind these delays, and proposed some recommendations belowwhich might enable to develop the main contractor organization to achieve one of the major goals in power plants which the on time completion.

His thesis abstract is copied and posted.

Abstract

In construction industry, a project is known to be successful when it meets three fundamental criteria such as finishing on time within the budget, the prescribed quality requirements such as satisfying customer’s demand and adapt safety in operation stage. Unfortunately, all of Thermal Power Plants built in Viet Nam had problems of project management leading to their delay. Investigating these problems has become project manager’s indispensable demand.

In general, the problems involved with project delays are solvable. In making effort to solve these problems, the critical factors influencing negatively on construction duration need to be discovered. Hence, it is very important to establish a systematical approach that will be used as a tool for the investigation.

This report will assess and analyze twelve factors causing the delay problems in Uong Bi Thermal Power Plant was executed in the North of Viet Nam. The qualitative method, basically is based on the principle of assessing the risk level of factors impacting negatively on the progress of the project, and it is conducted to fulfill the objective of the study.

Finally, some solutions dealing with project delay problems in construction executing stages are proposed.