| Application/Advantages of Alternative Project
Delivery Systems |
| Serving as Owner’s Engineer on Hungary’s
M3 Motorway |
| By Joseph Edge, Budapest, Hungary 36-309-964-971,
joedge@attglobal.net |
| The M3 Motorway project demonstrates that the role
of owner’s engineer in international, design/build type projects
can offer unique challenges and opportunities—challenges that
were met by taking full advantage of PB’s international resources. |
|
Hungary’s new M3 Motorway was delivered as a design/build,
unit- priced, turnkey contract. M3 is a 113-km (68 mile) toll motorway
extending from the capital, Budapest, to the eastern agricultural
city of Fuzesabony. PB’s client and the facility owner, EKM
Autopalya (EKMA), a 100 percent state-owned limited corporation, acted
as the contracting agency. The project involved:
- Upgrade of 65 km (39 miles) of existing
untolled highway with six new interchanges and a nine-lane main
toll barrier across the motorway proper (Section A)
- Construction of 58 km (35 miles) of new
four-lane motorway with four new interchanges connecting local
highways (Section B)
- Construction of a conventional closed-type
toll system with toll plazas, barriers and full supporting telecommunication
and ITS systems.
Bids on the project were based on a preliminary tender design developed
to only about 5 percent completion. This included preliminary alignments,
right-of-way and interchange locations with specifications and preliminary
quantities of unit-priced items that outlined the functional requirements
and design criteria. Bidders were required to submit detailed technical
and financial proposals for the work.
The selected design/build contractor, MHK Konzorcium, a Hungarian-
led international consortium of design and construction firms, was
responsible for completing the design and constructing the works for
takeover by EKMA. PB and joint venture (JV) partner, Utiber Kft.,
a Hungarian construction management firm, were selected by EKMA in
a competitive bid to serve as the owner’s engineer (OE).
PB’s Role on Owner’s Engineer
Team
As OE, we were involved in every stage of the project from planning
and design to construction inspection. The primary duties of the JV
team were to:
- Ensure the quality of the contractor’s
work, from design to construction
- Issue design approvals and certificates
of completion for the various work elements.
Specific duties were split between the JV partners. Utiber was responsible
for the civil infrastructure while PB was responsible for the technology
aspects of the toll and communication systems of the motorway. We
provided a variety of services for ensuring the quality of the planning,
design and implementation of these systems, which included the toll,
telecommunication, video surveillance, weather information, traffic
monitoring, emergency road phones, and internal communication networks
(PABX telephone, radio). PB Farradyne specialists provided technical
support including planning and design reviews of the various ITS systems,
equipment procurement inspections and construction inspections. Much
of the design review work was done in our Rockville, Maryland office.
Other services we provided included:
- Monitoring and controlling project budgets
- Assisting with program management for new
toll implementation
- Providing preliminary legal opinions regarding
contractor claims
- Preparing independent cost estimates for
the technology works
- Monitoring and controlling the overall project
budget of about 30 B forints (US $150M).
The project management plan provided one PB project manager (PM) on-site
to act as a day-to-day contact with the client and to monitor the
contractor’s activities, schedules and invoices. PB Power staff
in Newcastle, UK provided project administration services for our
project office.
International Resources
Help to Meet Expanded Work Scope
The tender design and functional specifications served as a basis
for the contractor’s final designs, prepared in a three-phase
progressive approach. Each phase was reviewed formally by the OE,
EKMA and other jurisdictional entities. Project requirements were
expanded during the design process, so the resulting conceptual plan
refinements increased the limits of proposed work and added supplemental
work. These changes were controlled by contractual variation order
procedures, in which needs were defined and verified and proposed
work and related costs were reviewed. Additional and supplemental
work increased the project value correspondingly to 45 billion forints
(US $214 million) and extended the project schedule by about six months.
The new work required appropriate review for technical performance,
scheduling, costing, coordination and, ultimately, approval by the
OE. Close coordination with PB experts abroad was essential for facilitating
design reviews and extensive research for information on equipment
and prices. Much research of state-of-the art equipment and systems
was conducted on the Internet.
The project schedule required significant updating, as is the case
on most design/build projects. Work program changes identified in
the design impacted the project schedule, making it necessary for
the OE to revise the scheduled engineering services. This change presented
a physical challenge in providing the PB services with little notice
to the experts abroad. While good network communications between our
project office and main offices helped greatly, last-minute trips
to Hungary from the U.S. were unavoidable and not uncommon.
A Job Well Done
The M3 Motorway opened to traffic on schedule on September 1, 1998.
Tolling of the facility, started in mid January 1999.
Our success as the OE on this design/build project can be attributed
to:
- The firm’s many diverse, seasoned
technical specialists and the flexible way their unique talents
may be used.
- Well-established PB communication networks
that helped to facilitate efficient, cost-effective off-site production
work that satisfied both project needs and PB project finance
goals.
- Excellent interoffice communication and
coordination among the various PB offices around the world that
were involved with the project.
- The project management approach of one on-site
PM proved effective and should be considered on similar projects.
The PM had technical support provided on-site as needed, and off-site
support readily available.
New design/build opportunities abound in the high growth markets of
developing countries. PB’s ability to provide a full range of
quality-oriented, specialized services in a cost-effective manner
will promote the firm as the preferred provider of design/build engineering
services worldwide. |
|
Joe Edge is a professional civil engineer
with experience in infrastructure and communication projects. He
is PB’s project office manager in Budapest, Hungary.
Note: Other articles on the role and responsibilities of owners
engineer are “Minimizing
Risks in Design/Build Projects: An Owner’s Engineer’s
View” by Darius Irani and “The
Role of Owner’s Engineer,” also written by Joe Edge.
See also PB Network #45, pp 45-47, 62, “Hungary’s
M3 Motorway Opens with State-of-the-Art Communication Systems.”
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