THESIS ABSTRACT

Abstract

The successful construction of a cold store project relies heavily on the collaboration between major stakeholders such as the client, consultant, and contractor. These parties play a crucial role in ensuring efficient planning, execution, implementation, and operation of the project. The compliance study is essential to ensure that construction projects meet the required standards and regulations set by the relevant authorities. Compliance with standards and regulations is critical for ensuring the safety, reliability, and durability of the constructed facilities. Therefore, a compliance study is important to identify areas of non- compliance and provide recommendations for corrective actions. The objective of this research is to assess the status of compliance in the construction of cold store with Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) standard, the National Building Codes in Nepal enhance the structural integrity and safety of buildings, mitigating the potential risks associated with seismic activities.The Prime Minister Agriculture Modernization Project has introduced standardized guidelines for the operation and construction of cold store facilities in Nepal. Additionally, provincial governments have set specific requirements regarding land area and the number of beneficiaries necessary to establish and run cold storage facilities.While the existing codes & guideline addresses certain aspects such as the importance factor and structural simplicity for storage facilities, it falls short in providing detailed instructions for the mechanical and agricultural components required in cold storage facilities.To bridge the existing gap in guidelines for the mechanical and agricultural aspects of cold storage facilities, adopting internationally recognized standards followed by other countries with similar geographic and climatic conditions can also be an effective solution. The factors causing non-compliance & their effects in the construction of cold store projects and finally measures to improve non-compliance in the construction of cold store projects at Nuwakot, Dhading & Chitwan districts. The checklist verifications based on the ICAR standard confirmed that non-compliance in the structural component and electricity and line supply components were major issues.The factor for non-compliance in the construction of cold store projects were based on the three primary stakeholders responsible for potential non-compliance are client, consultant, and contractor. The consequences of non-compliance in the construction of cold store projects were based on the entities mostly impacted by non-compliance: project viii characteristics, client, consultant, and contractor. The valid questionnaire that was obtained from studied cold store project’s representative. The findings of this study will provide guidance to policy makers, developers, investors, designers,consultants,contractors and beneficiaries for formulating guidelines and regulations, participating farmer before planning, minimizing project delivery issues during construction, ensuring sufficient resources for construction, and minimizing changes in cold store projects. As a result, the main factors that caused non-compliance by clients included a lack of skilled workforce, misunderstandings about the project scope, specifications, and bill of quantities between the client, consultant, and contractor, as well as a lack of sufficient and timely payment. The main factors that caused non-compliance by consultants included a lack of availability of detailed working drawings and bar bending drawings during project execution, a lack of defined quality of work, and a lack of day-to-day monitoring and supervision of work. Similarly, the main factors that caused non-compliance by contractors were frequent cost variations, longer project completion times, and a lack of efficient change management. As a result, non-compliance had several main effects on the project's serviceability, including frequent maintenance, issues with the smooth functioning of the cold store, and a lack of transfer of technology. For the client, non-compliance led to increased project costs, a lack of specified quality of work, and frequent maintenance. Non-compliance also affected the consultant, resulting in financial losses, variation in consulting costs, and frequent design modifications. Finally, non-compliance impacted the contractor by potentially causing project cessation due to payment issues, longer completion times, and increased overhead costs. The study suggests that all contracting parties must have a proper understanding of the scope, specifications, Bill of Quantities, and drawings.The involvement of skilled workforce, day-to-day supervision of work, change management, and its implementation by all contracting parties involved in the construction of cold store projects are essential to minimize non-compliance. Furthermore, sufficient budget allocation before project execution and timely payment to all parties involved in the construction of cold store projects were found to be effective measures to improve compliance.

Keywords

Agricultural Infrastructure, Gross Domestic Product (GDP), Bill of Quantity (BoQ), Cold store, Serviceability, Compliance, Variation, Project, Execution, ICAR