Journal Of Project Management Practice (JPMP)

Flood Mitigation Management Practice: A Comparison Between Stormwater Management Road Tunnel (SMART) and Sponge City Methods

Arfah Juneena Ahmad — 2023-12-29

Flash flood in Malaysia urban is no longer a surprise incident as it has become a widespread natural disaster that frequently happened every year. The geographical of Malaysia with equatorial climate experiences consistently high temperatures with high relative humidity and influenced by the northeast and southwest monsoons have provided heavy rainfall during the monsoon season. Although the flood issue has been given an important focus under the disaster management implementation in Malaysia, there is critical demand to improve the present flood mitigation management practice to overcome unforeseen flood disaster issues over the long term. The annual occurrence of floods in Malaysia has caused a very big impacts to the lives of humans and other living beings that requires serious attention and better “solution alternative” measures in urban areas. Commentators have remarked that the current urban flood management method, i.e., Stormwater Management and Road Tunnel (SMART) has not been proven as the long-term best solution to overcome the unforeseen flood disaster issues over the long term. There have been suggestions from the scholars to explore and adopt a new method, i.e., Sponge City concept that is still scarce in Malaysia but has been substantially adopted in China to overcome the urban flood issues. Therefore, this paper is prepared to present the outcome of the study on the comparison between the present Stormwater Management and Road Tunnel (SMART) and the newly concept of Sponge City with specific reference to the urban flood mitigation management in Malaysia. This study employs a quantitative research strategy to collect primary data from fifty-eight (58) respondents that approximately represents 73% of the entire distributed questionnaires or a total of 80 potential respondents that was identified to meet the specified criteria, with the objective to get their opinions on the comparison between the two competing methods, i.e., the present SMART tunnel, and the newly Sponge City concept for urban flood mitigation management in Malaysia. The findings revealed that the majority of the respondents chose Sponge City because it is greater advantages than the SMART tunnel method to overcome the issues of flood disaster in the urban areas. Although the Sponge City concept could be deemed appropriate for consideration as the new and better flood mitigation management method in Malaysia, it demands a holistic assessment to view the relevancy of Sponge City implementation and its investment over the life span for achieving economic sustainability and Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Overcoming Challenges Faced by Quantity Surveying’s Graduates In Adopting Skills For Future Employment: Employer’s Perspective

Nadia Nurul Najiha Tokijan — 2023-12-29

The evolving nature of the construction industry demands a diverse set of skills and competencies from Quantity Surveying (QS) graduates. The skills of QS graduates align closely with the practice of project management which involved the practice of skills, knowledge, tools, techniques to complete tasks such as cost estimation, contract management and value engineering which important in delivering successful projects. However, the existing research falls short in providing solutions to address the significant gap between the skills possessed by QS graduates and those demanded by the industry resulting in high unemployment and underemployment rates among them. Hence, the aim of this study is to propose solutions for QS graduates to enhance their employment skills in order to meet the needs of the construction industry. The questionnaire survey was distributed among 312 experienced QS professionals working in QS consultancy firms mainly based in Selangor and Kuala Lumpur through cluster sampling technique. The findings were then further analysed by using descriptive statistics and the Relative Important Index (RII). This research revealed that inviting experienced QS professionals as guest lecturers to deliver talks is a highly effective solution to minimize the challenges encountered by QS graduates as it gives fresh insights into the construction industry. The findings from this research provide the basis for HEIs, the construction industry and QS graduates in implementing the proposed solutions to address the challenges and gaps in the skills and competencies of QS graduates. The findings are ought to contribute to the overall enhancement of employability skills among QS graduates particularly in Malaysia and optimize the productivity of construction industry.

Dominant Factors Influencing the Implementation of Safety Protocols in Building Project Sites

DELE SIMEON — 2023-12-29

Despite establishing extensive safety regulations and protocols, the construction sector finds it challenging to
consistently uphold these norms. This study attempts to investigate the dominant factors influencing the
implementation of safety protocols with a view to safeguarding the health and safety of workers while reducing
the likelihood of accidents and guaranteeing the reliability and durability of built infrastructure. The study
employed a cross-sectional research design and Lagos State served as the research area. The population of the
study comprised built environment professionals and site operatives who were conveniently selected. The study
utilized two sets of structured questionnaires that were self-administered to the two groups of respondents.
Descriptive and inferential statistical approaches were employed to analyze the data collected. The findings
revealed that the dominant factors influencing the implementation of safety protocols on building project sites
among the built industry professionals and site operatives include management support, regulatory requirements,
safety awareness, employee training and education, recognition and encouragement, workers’ attitudes, and
penalties for non-compliance. The study concludes that regulatory requirement has a profound influence on how
safety protocols are being implemented in building project sites. This implies that stringent adherence to
regulatory requirements reduces risks and promotes a safety culture, which sustains the safety of building project
sites. The study therefore recommends that the management of construction organizations should keep employees
abreast of local safety requirements and provide guidelines for its implementation for compliance to be easily
incorporated into building site operations. This may be accomplished by maintaining up-to-date information,
performing frequent audits, and putting in place robust mechanisms aimed at guaranteeing compliance.