2012

Project

Compound Improvement
For

Akobo Field Office

Undertaken by

Contractor:

GASCO Limited
Ladu George Lambu Construction Supervisor, SCI AKOBO. Stephane K, Construction Consultant, SCI JUBA 6th May 2012

Compiled by:

Checked by:

Date:

Akobo field construction Report

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SCOPE OF WORKS The Contractor was awarded the contract, number PB/135/11/UN on the first day of February2012 to construct an office block, two separate latrines each with four stances and the Chain link fence, to be completed within 90 calendar days upon the date of the contract signature. IMPLEMENTATION From 8th march 2012 the contractor arrived and took over the site. From the 9th of March the SCI logistics manager was requested about the local material sources, whereby he had to assist in the local mobilization of sand and aggregate but he was busy and could not make it for that day. Between 10th and 16th of March (a duration of 6 days), there was no major activity going on for the reason being that land Boundaries for SCI compound had not yet been decided between the SCI and the local authority and the local materials had not yet been fully mobilized. From 17th of March, the foundation works started by setting out and excavation as per the drawings within the defined boundaries as it had been agreed by the local authorities and SCI management. Foundation works had to go on for three consecutive days till 20th of March when it was stopped after a decision taken by the contractor through the foreman to switch to the mobilization of materials which had to do with the collection of sand from River Meer area and local aggregates from the same area. The foundation works proceeded immediately after the bulk materials had been secured and delivered on site. From the foreman, Tony, we were able to get information that all the rest of materials apart from sand and local aggregates, were to come from Juba
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including; marrum / gravel , harder aggregates and the rest of the material to complete the works . This was to take only 3 days for all the materials to be delivered. We found out that all the walling was done by use of cement/sand blocks made in situ on site. Some of the blocks indicated that they were very weak and crumbling. Well, the foreman had to explain as to why as such was happening for the first batch of blocks before they were even used and he said that it was the first trial test that was done by a 1:4 ratio (cement bag: wheelbarrow of sand) instead of 1:3 mix ratio that is commonly used. On the same note, the wall thickness done on site for the foundation walls (plinth walls) for all the construction is 150mm compared to that in the drawing which is specified as 400mm for the Office block as per the drawing and 200mm thickness for the toilet walls. The foreman had defended himself that it was all about the mould that was delivered on site that gave him no option. The mould could make block sizes of 150x200x400mm compared to the expected 200x200x400mm solid blocks. Basically the walls were built on edge instead of building on bed to achieve the 200mm desired thickness. There was enough evidence that curing was not done effectively otherwise it could have been the ratio that was poor on top of the clay impurities in the sand that led to the poor quality of the first lot of the blocks that were made. THE PROJECT WAS DELAYED We looked at the time frame and got worried about the time left compared to the works left to be done. The contract was signed on the 1st of February 2012 and the project duration is for only 90 days. This means that the contractor has only the month of May to cover everything to turn key and handover.
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When we tried to track backwards, it was found out that work started on the 8th of May 2012, which was one month and a week late ever since the project was signed and we could not get any reason as to why this happened that way. The project commencement was earmarked when a team of 5 Masons (skilled laborers) and 6(unskilled laborers) Helpers and their foreman arrived in Akobo. On the other hand, the foreman explained that they had to wait for another 6 days before the new SCI boundaries had to be negotiated between the SCI admin and the local authorities.

That, rain had interrupted twice ever since the project started. This was in the mid march when rain started at around 11:00 am and work came to a standstill until the next day. The other occasion was in the first week of April when it started raining at around 2:30pm and work couldnt proceed until the next day. The last delay was from the time when cement got finished and the works had to come to a stand still waiting for the materials from Kampala. Our estimation was for about a week when these materials had to reach Juba and three days for the materials to reach Akobo from Juba. Fortunately, the consignment was sent on Wednesday 1st of May from juba and it reached on the 4th day of May 2012 to Akobo, the day after our arrival in Akobo.

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TECHNICAL FINDINGS HOW IT WAS DONE ON SITE FROM THE CONTRACT DOCUMENT

OFFICE BLOCK: The plinth wall thickness is The plinth wall thickness is 150mm, 400mm, The Stud columns are 150mmx The Stud columns are 400mm 200mm, x400mm, The RCC ground beam is The RCC ground beam is 150mmx200mm, 300mmx300mm, The marrum / Gravel layer The murrum / Gravel layer thickness is 65mm, thicknesss is not indicated. The DPM Ga 1000 PVC membrane The DPM Ga 1000 PVC membrane was not was not provided, documented, The BRC reinforcement Bars to the The BRC reinforcement Bars are slab are R8 tied @ 370mm spacing, indicated as Y10 to be tied @ 300mm spacing, The stirrups used are R6@300mm The stirrups specified are spacing R8@200mm spacing.

FENCE The spacing of the angle line pits is The spacing of the angle line pits 3000mm c/c @ the depth of was not indicated and the depth 600mm with diameter of 250mm of 400mm/ 500mm with a top on average. cross section area of 300X300mm was specified in the BOQ. 121 pieces of 50x50x6mm Angle Required is 174 pieces of Delivered on site 50x50x6mm Angle as per the
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BOQ to cater for struts and Strainers for the fence VIP LATRINE, 2No @ 4-stance The deepest end of the pit The depth of the pit could not be excavated is 4000mm from the read from the document i.e the ground level. section detailed drawing for the pit was missing from the document. The top section of the built pit is Ditto but the drawing plan specifies 900x4000mm top area 1500x4700mm internally and of the pit which differs from the 1600mm depth from the ground 1300x2100x5000mm as per the level. And the bottom section of BOQ , just mere excavated pit separated by a 65mm thick slab is 790mmx4000mm and 2600mm deep. The total excavated volume was The total volume to be computed to be 20m3 excavated was 28m3 per 4stance pit as per the BOQ The slab thickness to one of the toilets near the office block was made to be 65mm thick with Y12 rebar @ 300mm spacing and covered by the welded wire mesh on top. The slab was specified to be 100mm thickness for all the toilets as per the BOQ.

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MATERIALS DELIVERED TO THE SITE The last batch of the materials for the completion of the work arrived yesterday 4th May 5, 2012 at around 3:00 pm, it took 3 days to reach AKOBO from Juba. These included:Item Details 1 2 3 4 5 6 Portland Cement, Rhino Brand Y12, Reinforcement bars Iron sheets, Ga 28 prepainted maroon in color Welded Wire mesh,120x240mm Wooded Door frames Quantity 250 38 145 3 8 Unit Bags No Pcs Pcs Pcs Pcs Remarks Non was damaged

Soft 65 boards,122x244cm,10mm thick Sadolin paints, Emulsion, under coat Sadolin paints, Emulsion, Final coat , cream Sadolin paints, Gloss paint Sadolin paints weather 4 tins of

7 8 9 10

Jkans Jkans Jkans Tin

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guard 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 17 18 Metallic doors for VIP Latrines, 80cmx210cm Flash Timber doors Barbed wires,25kg Roll Main Gate Metallic,4000x2100 Binding wire Putty for glasses 50x50x6mm Angle bars Wood preservative Burnt clay Vent bricks,220x112x75mm,Z design Hand crashed Aggregate Chain link 20Ltr @ 8 4 3 1 10 2 121 3 20 pcs pcs Rolls No Kg Tins Pcs Jkans Pcs The small pedestrian gate was not provided

19 20 21 22 23 24

10 20

Ton Rolls Rolls Pcs pcs pcs

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Tension wire for the chain 3 link Ridge caps Valleys @ 2m long 2x6 common timbers 25 5 45

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25 26 27 28 29 30 2x4 common timbers 2x3 common timbers 1x9 Fascia boards 315 90 32 pcs pcs pcs pcs pcs No 9 windows were damaged and need welding ,panel beating repairs & painting One was damaged during delivery

Metallic doors for the 8 latrine 750x2100mm sizes 1200x2200mm Double door Casement Windows ,1mx1.2m Assorted Wire Nails 6 5 4 3 2 Roofing Nails Rubber washers Hoop Iron DPC 5 5 25 6 7 35 5 20 1 22

31

Kgs Kgs Kgs Kgs Kgs Kgs Are missing, not brought Rolls Rolls
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Recommendations Latrines: We would recommend that the intended detailed section as part of the drawing to be delivered for comparison or, to give us the precedence and guidelines in controlling the already existing part. This would help us to make quick adjustment as soon as possible. For example its quick not clear about the specific guide concerning the pit depth and its top area. For the BOQ, it specifies 1300x2100x5000mm and the drawing indicates 900x4000mm. The contractor decided to excavate 4000mm as the pit depth from the ground level but in steps as indicated in the table of observations above. Please find the attached sketches of the as built sections of the toilets. Office Block: The recommended BRC from the drawing was y10 bars @300mm spacing c/c fixed with binding wire contrary to what was done by the contractor where R8 bars spaced @370mm c/c was used. This is the point dragging us to another level until we get a go ahead from the construction manager; the condition has already been raised to his attention. We had taken a quick decision of improvising by just reducing the spacing through addition of more bars but the foreman had to confirm from his boss first. And concerning the stirrups for the beams and columns, we were suggesting that the use of R6 bars instead of the specified R8 would call for a reduction in their spacing from the original 300mm to 150-200mm if only approved by the designer.
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On the other hand, for the wall, we had suggested to use the hoop iron reinforcement @ every two courses to counter cracking. DPM The DPM, Damp proof Membrane was ignored by the contractor simply because it was not part of the drawing and in the BOQ. We thought that the DPM is the protective layer of the slab and the reinforcement against the raising moisture. On the same note, it was not procured. If we could ask for precedence from the designer, then we are safe. FENCE We would recommend that the fence needs more reinforcement in any way to provide sufficient support to it laterally. This could be archived by improvising more angle line bars for struts and the required strainers and terminal posts or additional Timber poles @ not < 10m with deeper excavation depth. WATER More water will be needed for future use especially for concrete works and curing. Curing is mandatory and requires relatively more water. The only nearest water source point for clean water is the compound bore hole and it this calls for a maximum storage and water reservation from the contractor.

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akobo 1: This the Arial view of one of the toilets.

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akobo 2: This side show how the soils are terrible, even up to the 2m depth, foundation cannot be guaranteed. So what the contractor did was to excavate below to a depth of 1500mm for the wall seated on a slab as seen in the photo, below this is a simple slab of 65mm made of 1:2:4 plain concrete according to the F/man.

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akobo 3: The slab thickness is 65mm, reinforced as per the F/man. We thought maybe the strength is currently based on the formwork which is still below it.

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akobo 4: This is the layout of the foundation and the interest was in the spacing of the Rebars, the raise of the plinth wall from the ground floor level.

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akobo 5: These are some of the materials which were brought in the last consignment, of course some were damaged during transit especially the paint, windows and angle bars,

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akobo 6: (Left) are the hand crashed aggregate fetched all the way from Juba. (Right) are the stones collected from the river banks.

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akobo 7: This is one of the blocks that were molded on site. It shows that sand is impure with clay particles and rubbish. The quality could partially be improved by sieving sand before use.

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