Includes CD

Thesis (M.Sc.) - CYPRUS INTERNATIONAL UNIVERSITY INSTITUTE OF GRADUATE STUDIES AND RESEARCH CIVIL ENGINEERING DEPARTMENT

Includes REFERENCES: sheets 57-63

ABSTRACT
The metric for measurement of the growth in developing countries is correlated to the improvement of infrastructure in the country; for which road transport represents a significant economic yardstick. The construction of roads presents multi-dimensional benefits to a country, interlinking regions or cities, fostering market sales, importation and exportation activities, job creations and many more. The efficiency in carrying out road construction is a vital subject matter in the discourse of economic development; hence the study of project management. Any road construction project requires adequate planning in terms of quality, time management and cost. In addition, resource optimization is a key feature in sustainability management, hence, project management is very important. Lagos, Nigeria is a fast-growing economy in Africa, with vast human and material resources; and road construction activities is on a high. However, there is not enough focus on efficiency of road construction in the region; which can be stated to be one of the major reasons why the durability of road projects in Lagos state is on a low and risks delivery to programmed duration and budget. In this thesis, the problem being tackled is the issue of unnecessary lengthened construction project prevalent in Lagos state. Also, the issue of planning of activities and allocation of resources has been a consistent issue in the construction industry in Nigeria. The project studied in this thesis is specifically considered as the company in charge of the project is not using any software in the process flow of the construction activities and this pose a very serious problem.
In order to present a simple and efficient methodology for planning and scheduling for road construction, that can be effectively useful for managing sufficient flow of resources, this thesis analyses the use of Microsoft Project for planning, scheduling and resource optimization for a pavement road construction in Lagos state. The project used as a case study is an ongoing Estate road construction in the Island region of Lagos state. The study found that the efficiency that can be created is estimated in the region of The total collective resource hours committed by the organization to the project during the 12 month duration of the project to prevent time overrun is 26640 hours and the maximum number of work hours assigned was 10892 hours which accounted for 40.9% of the total collective resource hours. The highest number of resources hours committed to the project was in September which accounted for 19.8% of the total hours of resources used in the project duration whereas, the month of December accounted for the lowest number of resources hours due to a huge decline the number of activities taking place. The report of Cash flow showed that the first quarter accounted for 29.05% of the total project cost, while the month of September showed the highest expenditure in the 12 month period.
Keywords: Infrastructure, project management, Microsoft Project, Pavement, Road Construction.