Djoen San Santoso

Assessment of risks in high rise building construction in Jakarta

Risk is inherent in every construction project, especially complex projects like high rise buildings. It is helpful to understand the significant risks in order to anticipate their possible negative effects on projects. This research identifies, ranks and categorizes high potential risks in high rise building projects in Jakarta. Questionnaire surveys and interviews were conducted on engineers from contracting firms in the city. The result shows that risks related to management and design are the most significant in high rise construction projects. It is also shown that client interference should be avoided or reduced in tandem with good communication and teamwork between contractors and consultants to minimize defects. Contractors also need to give attention to the maintenance of equipment in order to sustain high productivity levels.

The construction site as a multicultural workplace: a perspective of minority migrant workers in Brunei

Construction projects have become progressively multicultural, especially for countries with limited labour force where there is need to depend on migrant workers. This multicultural environment can easily create problems related to unfair treatment or discrimination. Focus group discussions were conducted with migrant workers from Indonesia and Thailand to examine factors directly and indirectly related to construction activities that need to be considered in a diverse nationality construction site, with a focus on the minority group. The study suggested that communication, wage segmentation, task assignment and trust, scapegoatism, and belief and religion are the important aspects needing to be carefully taken into account to have a constructive working and living environment in a multicultural project. Management should not overlook the above factors to avoid disenfranchizing minority workers.

Spatial transferability and updating analysis of mode choice models in developing countries

ABSTRACT This article examines the spatial transferability of mode choice models in developing countries. An evaluation of the updating procedure and sample size are also included in the study. Because of the insufficiency of model coefficients in explaining differences in unmeasured modal attributes, naïvely transferring a model is not recommended. An understanding of the transport characteristics in both the estimation context and the application context is required, in order to justify whether a variable is transferable or not. Four updating procedures – updating alternative specific constants (ASCs), updating ASCs and scale parameter, the combined transfer estimator and Bayesian updating associated with three sets of small sample sizes – are applied to improve transferability. In general, the first three approaches produce significant improvements. It is also proposed that a minimum small sample size of 400 observations is necessary for updating purposes.

Perceptions of Risk Based on Level of Experience for High-Rise Building Contractors

Abstract Risk is part of everyday life. The assessment of the degree of risk is considerably influenced by the perception of the assessor towards the risk. A questionnaire survey and interviews were carried out on engineers of building contracting firms in Jakarta to determine the influence of experience on perception towards risks. The result shows significant differences in the assessment of the degree of risks due to differences in the level of experience. Experienced engineers tend to assess the degree of risk lower than less-experienced engineers. Familiarity in dealing with risks and the position of experienced engineers in the management level are the main factors contributing to the assessment. Nevertheless, experienced engineers give high rankings to political, regulatory and environmental risks. The job function of experienced engineers, i.e. planning and decision-making, have a strong influence on their perception. The unstable internal condition of Indonesia has contributed to the concern on political and regulatory risks. Meanwhile, the nature of high-rise buildings and the lack of environmental awareness in engineering life and education have contributed to risks related to environmental regulations.

The causal relationship of the service quality of the TransJakarta Busway

The implementation of the TransJakarta Busway in 2004 is viewed as one of the solutions to provide higher-quality public transportation service to solve the transportation problem in Jakarta. An improvement in service quality requires research that rigorously explores the experiences and perceptions of users of this mode of transportation. This article aims to provide an explanation regarding the causal relationship of the service quality of the TransJakarta Busway. The analysis employs two data sets that were collected from questionnaires: a data set pertaining to the first corridor and a data set pertaining to all of the corridors (seven corridors). Structural equation modelling is employed to show and test the causal relationship of the constructs of loyalty and service quality based on image and fact. The study shows differences in the factor loading between the two models; therefore, an analysis of the service quality of the busway system necessitates an evaluation of each aspect from all of the corridors to obtain a representative result rather than relying on information pertaining to only the oldest single corridor. The results of the causal relationship analysis suggest that the operator should devote attention to each attribute of service quality and the unique situation of each corridor. Based on the images and experiences of the users, the operator should provide a standard level of quality to all corridors to reduce the gap between image and fact.

Road project termination and rebidding strategies in Nigeria

Purpose – This paper aims to identify and examine valid project termination reasons and the rebidding strategies of road construction project. Rebidding strategies is one of the measures to restructure terminated/troubled road construction project. Design/methodology/approach – An instrument which comprised 82 items entitled “Project Termination and Rebidding Strategies in Road Construction Projects in Nigeria” (PTRS) was developed to evaluate 60 randomly sampled road projects using qualified project/site managers and engineers as project respondents for the purpose of securing valid information on the terminated and rebid road construction projects. Mean, standard deviation and factor analysis shall be used as analytical tools in identifying valid termination reasons and rebidding strategies and as well as the relationship between them through regression analysis. Findings – The paper’s findings revealed major project termination reasons and rebidding strategies. It further indicated significant relation...