Comparative Study of Traditional and Design Build Contracts with Focus on Constructability as Solution

Abstract

Owing to the geographical nature of Pakistan in the region and the agricultural nature of its economy, the importance of infrastructure cannot be denied. Transportation in Pakistan has grown and developed a lot in the past few years but it is still insufficient in order to fulfill the growing needs. Government and foreign donor agencies are investing in this sector of the industry but unfortunately the industry is unable to captivate the opportunity and utilize the resources to its optimum. Traditional project delivery method currently followed is structurally antagonistic resulting in time and cost overruns. Therefore there is a need to adopt international developed, validated and successfully tested form of project delivery for highway sector. Design-build is being used by developed countries as it allow to design and execute the project within time and budget by utilizing the latest trends and techniques. Constructability is one of those techniques which the developed countries have adopted in order to make their design and construction process efficient. This research will make an endeavor to identify the disadvantages of traditional contracts affecting the projects in Pakistan and advantages of design-build contracts which could lead towards better results through literature review. The causes/barriers which are preventing the sector for the adoption of new form of project delivery will be highlighted and prioritized. Constructability, which is still in embryonic stage, will be analyzed as a solution to the problem. The findings indicate the potential barriers in the sector which are preventing the adoption of new project delivery methods and constructability, if applied, will help in overcoming these barriers. However some steps are to be taken at government level in order to facilitate the adoption of new methodology.