THESIS ABSTRACT

Abstract

Construction projects plays a pivotal role in the development of a country's infrastructure and economic growth. Claims in construction industry are the demands made by one party to other party in a contract under the rights provided in the contract. Mainly, the claims are made by the contractor against the owner for additional payment, compensation and extension of time. The claims made by owner against the contractor are for the penalty for the delay made by the contractor in execution or correction of the works. Claims always cause increase in the costs in construction, time overrun and sometimes disputes amongst the parties. The major focus of this particular thesis work was to identify the major causes of claims and disputes in construction of medium sized hydropower projects in Nepal, their effects in construction and suggest the possible minimizing measures against claims and disputes. The methodology of the study was based on the review of the literatures available in different sources on the relevant topic of study. The recently constructed and under construction hydropower projects were selected to study the causes of claims and disputes, the effects of claims and disputes and the minimization measures against claims and disputes. Questionnaire survey was conducted among the construction partners in the selected projects to find out the objectives of the study. The findings of the study revealed that the claims and disputes are mostly related to extra work and variation, delay, price escalation, contract ambiguity, change and differing site conditions. It is seen that most of the significant causes of claims and disputes are related to the group of owner related factors. Then it comes to the contract documents related factors VI group, contractual relationship factors group and then only to the contractor related factors group. Most significant factors among all the groups are exceptionally low bid and delay in handing over the site. The findings shows that the most significant effect of claims and disputes in construction are the cost overrun, time overrun, cash flow problems to the contractor and delayed revenue generation. In this study, it is seen that the precautionary strategies have a higher significance than project management strategies in minimizing the claims and disputes in construction. The most significant minimization measures are inclusion of contract clauses related to extension of time, make payments in time, have strict provisions against low bidding and do a proper site investigation before bidding. This study recommends to have proper control mechanisms against low bidding, proper land acquisition, site investigation and detailed design before bidding. In overall, this study recommends that special attention shall be paid towards the preparation of good tender document to avoid the claims and disputes in construction of medium sized hydropower projects in Nepal.

Keywords

Claims, Disputes, Causes, Effects, Minimization measures, Construction Project