Phan Rang-Thap Cham City construction supervision

Project summary

The Coastal Cities Sustainable Environment Project (CCSEP) aims to improve the environment and sanitation in four Vietnamese cities in a sustainable manner, enhancing the quality of life for city residents. Nicholas O’Dwyer led a group of key experts and site engineering staff for works in the city of Phan Rang‐Thap Cham.

The background

Phan Rang‐Thap Cham, the capital city of Ninh Thuan province, is a Class 2 city (a mid-sized regional centre) with an area of 79 km2 and a population of 167,000. The Phan Rang-Thap Cham City Subproject is to be implemented over 15 wards and 1 commune across the city region. The main services and employment sectors in the city are tourism and fishing.

The scope of works is divided into four separate components to be delivered under the civil works contracts:

• sanitation infrastructure to address or prevent flooding issues and create green corridors along the new or improved canals and lakes; this also covers wastewater collection and treatment and the construction of toilets at some schools and in public areas
• urban connectivity covering the expansion and lengthening of Alley 150 (off 21/8 Road) and Huynh Thuc Khang Road, including the construction of road-enclosed infrastructure such as drainage, sewers, trees, pavements and lighting
• site clearance of 6.7 ha and resettlement in an area that will accommodate up to 250 households impacted by the acquisition of land necessary for project development
• technical assistance and institutional reform, covering construction supervision and help to reform the province’s sanitation sector.

RSK Group company Nicholas O’Dywer led a group that included local Vietnamese engineering companies Viet Vuong and Hong Ha Engineering Consultant to provide key experts and site engineering staff to supervise construction and associated contract administration of the project. Experts based on site were supported by a backstop team of specialists in Ireland, who could be consulted by the site team and the project management unit when required.

The challenges

The site team had to supervise, log and report all activities and site findings. Because of the large area covered and multiple contractors working on multiple works simultaneously, it was a challenge for the site team to fully implement the supervision required by the project.

The solutions

An integrated data capture and transfer system was used for tracking and recording all work activities daily. Each of the team members was supplied with a tablet device that synced to the cloud sharing drive established for the project. All information including photos, site reports and video footage captured on the tablets each day was automatically uploaded to the folder once an internet connection was established. This ensured that information gathered from the site was shared and uploaded at least every eight hours and could be immediately reviewed by members of the management teams.

This approach offered advantages in that it saved time by not having to transfer information recorded manually from logbooks into a weekly or monthly report. The system enabled reports to be generated daily with very little effort and freed up time for team members to supervise construction at the various sites in the project.

The impact

Drainage capability across the city has been improved, with 18 km of drainage channels rehabilitated, and a reduction in the number of flooding incidents is expected as two new lakes have been constructed. Wastewater collection and treatment capability has also been improved, enhancing the water, soil and air environment.

School and public sanitary conditions have been improved, along with drainage and sewer infrastructure.

Transport infrastructure has been improved with 3.6 km of new roads and 2 km of rehabilitated roads.