THE MUMBAI–VADODARA EXPRESSWAY PROJECT ZOOMS TO COMPLETION
On August 30th, 2022, Project Manager, Kamal Kishore Singh was an extremely happy and satisfied man. He and his team had just received the Final Completion Certificate for the tough Mumbai-Vadodara Expressway project, delivered right on cue, and that too, with a handsome margin. He would, however, be the first one to acknowledge that his feeling of triumph was tinged with relief for the project was beset by a variety of challenges right from the start: availability of labour, voluminous quantum of structural concrete work, utility shifting, logistics, mining approvals for borrow soil and all the issues associated with a greenfield road project.
“At MVEP, as a team, we did several things right to be successful, like creating & prioritizing deadlines for each objective in line with the Project Management needs, budgeting in advance for the available resources in terms of manpower, equipment and tools, and introducing micromanagement, accountability and responsibility to the last task owner.”
Kamal Kishore Singh
Project Manager
“At MVEP, as a team, we did several things right to be successful,” remarks Kamal with a smile, “like creating & prioritizing deadlines for each objective in line with the Project Management needs, budgeting in advance for the available resources in terms of manpower, equipment and tools, and introducing micromanagement, accountability and responsibility to the last task owner.”
A clear strategy, a well-thought-out plan of action,
precise execution
Given the size and complexity of the project, it was evident to Kamal that the team needed to be nimble and agile to manage it. “Apart from round the clock operations, we were always open for suggestions from the execution team to improve our speed of execution,” remarks Kamal. “We even switched execution staff to focus areas according to the specific needs of the project.”
However, before plunging into execution, expert planning was necessary and the onus on Planning Head, Shashikanta Tripathy (Deputy General Manager – Civil), was to procure the requisite approvals for the design & drawings from the Client and other external authorities like the Railways, make advance resource plans, monitor progress, pay attention to and resolve critical needs, if any, during execution.
Shashikanta Tripathy
Deputy General Manager – Civil
“We unwaveringly focused on customer collections from the beginning which is why we were able to consistently maintain a positive cash flow and a negative working capital throughout the project lifecycle.”
“It was our focus from Day One to maintain a healthy cash and accordingly took up work in areas where invoicing was favourable to us without hampering the overall project schedule,” mentions Shashikanta or SKT, as he is better known at site, sharing their smart MO. “We unwaveringly focused on customer collections from the beginning which is why we were able to consistently maintain a positive cash flow and a negative working capital throughout the project lifecycle,” he declares with more than a hint of pride for a job well delivered. Smart procurement planning and order finalisation for special items like shutters for precast items, prestressing materials, expansion joints, bridge bearings and other critical items too significantly reduced lag in execution.
Adequate labour mobilization was a major issue during and just post the pandemic and SKT bemoans that it remained people’s safety and security.” Even post the pandemic, the team arranged to bring workers directly from their native places and introduced schemes like ‘target-based incentives’ to regain work momentum.
Another set of speed breakers that threatened to upset their best laid plans were environmental and local issues.
“Due to the irregular monsoon pattern, some challenges kept cropping up unexpectedly,” says C Mariappan – Engineer (Civil), with a shake of his head. “Fortunately, we were well ahead of our schedule so were able to negotiate these. In fact, the workers were instructed how to continue to keep working in such conditions.” The team faced resistance from the local people too during construction, but every challenge was dealt with convincingly with the necessary actions and/or precautions taken.
C Mariappan
Engineer (Civil)
“Due to the irregular monsoon pattern, some challenges kept cropping up unexpectedly. Fortunately, we were well ahead of our schedule so were able to negotiate these. In fact, the workers were instructed how to continue to keep working in such conditions.”
To procure mining approvals, a dedicated team led by Alkeshkumar Dilipbhai Trivedi (ADT) was formed by Shiv Kumar Sharma (SKS), the FAA Head, drawing members from the local and CGM offices in Ahmedabad.
Focused on Quality & Safety wins them the day
Quality had a special bearing at MVEP that involved concrete pavement, where even a small lapse on the quality of the parameters starting from production to laying could adversely impact product quality. “We had efficient P&M to produce the PQC Mix though the major challenge was in laying it in a continuous flow, despite variations in the temperature of the mix, transportation and such like,” mentions SKT. Another challenge was the restriction in the paving width for the team had to pave the 4-Lane in two sequences that could have affected the riding quality of the pavement. “To address these issues, we planned the PQC paving mostly at night and implemented the fixed side shutter during the first sequence of laying the PQC to ensure that its edge was on level with the joint.” This night operation was supervised by a dedicated QA/ QC team to ensure that nothing went amiss. SKT is delighted that nothing did.
While the task of erecting multiple Precast Girders in a greenfield project with most of erections happening at heights of 20 m and more was a major headache, what gave In-charge (Erection) Rakesh Kumar Nanda, Construction Manager (Mechanical) and Section In-charge (Structure & Precast), Pradip Nayak, Senior Construction Manager (Civil), sleepless nights was to complete precasting 1350 I-girders to drive progress. “The number of structures required for this project was voluminous,” says Pradip, “but we handled entire activity with utmost care especially when working at heights, and identified workers in each group who were given special training to be allowed to work in such heights.” Pradip is extremely happy that everything went as per plan and safely, without a single incident. His broad smile and thumbs up say it all.
Pradip Nayak
Senior Construction Manager – Civil
“The number of structures required for this project was voluminous, but we handled entire activity with utmost care especially when working at heights, and identified workers in each group who were given special training to be allowed to work in such heights.”
Working next to ‘live’ traffic was a perennial hazard for the team at the two interchanges crossing over NH8 (DelhiMumbai corridor) and NE1 (Ahmedabad Vadodara Expressway) both with extremely intense traffic. For EHS
In-charge, Guru Prasad, traffic management was the primary challenge. “Our EHS team worked in coordination with the NHAI to make all the safety arrangements in accordance with IRC provisions, deploying round the-clock safety vigilantes at these interchanges. We completed these sections with zero accidents,” he declares, visibly please with the results. Other EHS best practices followed at site include EHS walkdowns, awareness programmes on various works, daily pep talks, and more.
Technology & automation empowered the team to meet ever-changing business needs with agility and innovation to significantly reduce the overall process cycle and eliminate human error. Assets were monitored through the Asset Insight digital solution while fuel sensors were installed on all major machines to monitor the fuel level differences, and RTR helped to create and sustain a safe working environment.
Many highlights to talk about
Despite all the challenges that the team had to face and overcome, Kamal has several project highlights to share.
- The project completed all the three milestones within the due date and was completed within the approved schedule.
- Successfully completed a ROB over one of the busiest railway routes, the Delhi-Mumbai route of the Western Railway substantial ahead of time.
- The project won the Quality Trophy in 2021.
- It received the LIFE Award by closing the project in the ‘more than Rs. 1000 Crore’ category.
- The project won the International Safety Award for demonstrating a strong commitment to EHS management from British Safety Council.
These are all the toppings for Kamal, SKT and team for their biggest reward for their endeavours is a delighted Customer.