Assessing the effectiveness of Libyan supervisors in dealing with construction delays

Krima, N

Abstract

Delays are perhaps the most common and costly problem encountered in construction and civil
engineering projects worldwide. According to the owner's requirements, in the Libyan
construction industry, the owner's supervisor (OS) - either an individual supervisor engineer (SE)
or a consultant organization (CO) - represents the owner on the construction site and plays an
important role in monitoring the implementation of the consultant's (design team's) plans This
involves monitoring the performance of the contractor and reducing the owner's risk of any
liability or contractor claims. The OS also attempts to ensure that the owner's targets are met in
terms of the three main criteria of time, cost and quality. The OS has clearly defined guidelines
and procedures to monitor quality and budget. However, monitoring time, and protecting the
owner from any claims, is a more problematic task.
One of the OS's important roles is to ensure that the project remains on schedule, hence to protect
the client from delays and associated claims. However, there are no existing means of
determining the OSs' effectiveness in performing this task. In this thesis, a review of relevant
literature is combined with a field survey of experts in the supervision of Libyan construction
projects, to develop a method of assessing the effectiveness of both SEs and COs regarding
construction project delays. This method produces a set of weighted criteria, which generates
scores according to SEs' and COs1 performances as perceived by those surveyed. The results
indicate that Libyan SEs are currently deficient in a number of areas, particularly communication
skills; obtained scientific, technical and legal knowledge; knowledge in dealing with claims;
previous experience; and knowledge and use of modern techniques. The results indicate that
Libyan COs are less deficient in a number of areas, but are most deficient in terms of motivation,
and quality systems.
The results have implications for the selection and appointment of Supervisor Engineers and for
their professional development needs.
This research also investigates causes of delay in construction projects in Libya. The most
frequent delay causes in Libyan construction projects are: delay in owner payments to the
XIcontractor; long administrative routines; instability of material prices; frequent adjustments and
additional work ordered by owner; delay in administrative processes carried by owner's
supervisor; unavailability of spare parts in the local market; supervisor delays in decision making
and taking action on time; lack of or bad application of modern planning techniques by the
contractor; the delay in communication between the supervisor and the owner to obtain required
approval or permission; and unclear drawings and specifications prepared by the consultant.

Citation

Krima, N. Assessing the effectiveness of Libyan supervisors in dealing with construction delays. (Thesis). Salford : University of Salford

• Thesis Type: Thesis
• Deposit Date: Oct 3, 2012
• Award Date: Jan 1, 2009