Thailand power development plan for period of 2012-2030 calls for an additional 55 Giga watts of new capacity. One Gigawatt equals 1000 Megawatts. A standard capacity of a combined cycle power plant is 800 MegaWatts. This means roughly 70 new plants of such capacity will be built to meet the development plan forecast. This indicates a potential for increased construction activity in the region. This is in addition to the mega development projects already announced by Government of Thailand in wake of the unprecedented floods experienced in 2011 — by Mr. Mukesh Shukla.
These capital projects require huge volumes of earthwork, concrete work and super-structure installation, in addition to sourcing suitable construction equipment, within a restricted budget and schedule. This workload puts tremendous pressure on infrastructure, as well as the labor market.
The biggest project management challenge: “how to deploy local, skilled manpower and retain them throughout the project”. Resource planning is necessary during various phases of the project – even though labor availability is uncertain, especially on a project that exceeds 3-years. The current skilled labor shortage is real. Although the Thai government permits migrant Myanmar labor, this foreign labor creates additional issues including inferior skill set, need for proper training, safety issues, wage disparity, and more. Availability of construction equipment to support such critical projects on a tight schedule and at realistic prices is also a considerable challenge.
Mega projects of this nature present considerable logistics challenges including transportation of heavy equipment and many over-sized loads requiring police escorts and considerable planning. Most of this equipment needs to be available at the construction site in a timely manner to satisfy schedule requirements and avoid costly delays but without incurring costly storage, security and insurance costs through premature delivery. In addition, weather can cause transportation delays from port to site. The infrastructure from port to site need careful planning that including detailed survey, assessment of road conditions, acquisition of permits, police escort and constant liaison with regional and local authorities, affected communities, police and the transportation companies.
Another challenge is the lack of awareness of scheduling by many local contractors. It is still a dream in this region, to create an understanding among local contractors, of the importance of base line scheduling. The lack of education among contractor staff – especially the project control team – can become a critical path that can cascade small and seemingly unimportant delays into a major project delay.
Quality is another area where many local contractors lack the skills to monitor and control ongoing construction activities. This may happen due to lack of a well-defined project deliverable known as ITP (Inspection and Test Plan). The ITP needs to be developed prior to construction activities. The ITP should be jointly developed with stakeholders to define the extent of witness/inspection, hold points and acceptance criteria to prevent rework and unnecessary delays.
Last but not least, it is worth mentioning the challenge posed by language barriers or communication limitations among the stakeholders resulting from diverse culture and geographical backgrounds. The project manager should emphasize the importance of communication and feedback between the key stakeholders involved in the project. Local PMI chapter provides opportunities for project management professionals to share their experiences and learn new ways to achieve success through developing their project teams and techniques for mitigating significant risks on complex projects such these power projects proposed for this region.
About the Author
Mr. Mukesh Shukla is currently managing EPC project implementation of new fossil fuel, multi-shaft, combined cycle plant at Wang-Noi in Thailand. He is responsible for managing diverse, multi-disciplinary internal and external Engineering, Project Control and Construction teams. Mr. Shukla has more than 35 years experience in Power/Petrochemicals/Oil & Gas industry in Americas, Middle East, and South-East Asia. He has over 20 years experience in Project Management, Engineering Management, and EPC/EPCM execution of major Power/Oil & Gas/Petro-chemical plant grass roots projects. Mr. Mukesh Shukla has a Bachelors Degree in Mechanical Engineering. He is also a certified Project Management Professional (PMP) and holds a Professional Engineer (PE) license from the State of Wisconsin.
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