Three new bridges greatly reduced travel time between Dhaka and Cumilla, Feni.

[Homo Sapiens]

HREE

 

[TopCat]

We should prefer Japanese contractor if possible in most of the projects. They are pretty good.

 

[bluesky]

We should prefer Japanese contractor if possible in most of the projects. They are pretty good.

I will prefer BD Contractors who, through a govt initiated procedure, will learn Japanese way of doing the survey, design, and construction by participation in the present projects so that a thousand other projects in the future can be done by themselves.

A country of 160 million people should utilize its own people instead of relying on others.

 

[Mage]

I will prefer BD Contractors who, through a govt initiated procedure, will learn Japanese way of doing the survey, design, and construction by participation in the present projects so that a thousand other projects in the future can be done by themselves.

A country of 160 million people should utilize its own people instead of relying on others.

People are too busy taking credit for infrastructure projects done by foreign companies. We are inheriting this Saudi mindset. Give money to others and make them do the work. You don't have to know how to do this. Just throw money and enjoy, habibi.

 

[TopCat]

I will prefer BD Contractors who, through a govt initiated procedure, will learn Japanese way of doing the survey, design, and construction by participation in the present projects so that a thousand other projects in the future can be done by themselves.

A country of 160 million people should utilize its own people instead of relying on others.

Abdul Momen and Reza construction are at the forefront. Their quality of work is far better than Chinese and on time.

 

[Bilal9]

Abdul Momen and Reza construction are at the forefront. Their quality of work is far better than Chinese and on time.

Good Information but I believe the first contractor's name is Abdul Monem (not Momen). Their construction business is both large and state of the art. Their infra includes ready-mix cement plants, captive block manufacturing units in many areas as well as road surface emulsion businesses. They are also local COCA COLA brands bottlers/canners since the nineties as well as owners of the IGLOO ice-cream and snack brand.

 

[BitHeroBD]

People are too busy taking credit for infrastructure projects done by foreign companies. We are inheriting this Saudi mindset. Give money to others and make them do the work. You don't have to know how to do this. Just throw money and enjoy, habibi.

Most Engineers working on the project were Bangladeshi

 

[Mage]

Most Engineers working on the project were Bangladeshi

Maybe....but it's time we start building things without foreign assistance.

 

[fallstuff]

Multi billion dollar projects require serious experience.
Multiple teams work under the General Contractor. There are also financial aspects in a larger construction project. Contractors are typically paid in draws or phases. Does a local contractor have the funds to pay all the construction material, labor, and sub-contractors until they get paid from the Government ? There is also the case of construction insurance. Insurance will depend on the past project performance, safety records, financial health of the contractor, type of work involved, and the requirements of the Project.

 

[Bilal9]

Multi billion dollar projects require serious experience.
Multiple teams work under the General Contractor. There are also financial aspects in a larger construction project. Contractors are typically paid in draws or phases. Does a local contractor have the funds to pay all the construction material, labor, and sub-contractors until they get paid from the Government ? There is also the case of construction insurance. Insurance will depend on the past project performance, safety records, financial health of the contractor, type of work involved, and the requirements of the Project.

Every progressively higher LEVEL of construction project (Basic bridges to suspension, cantilever bridges and eventually tall viaduct bridges for example) needs higher and higher levels of 'new-technology' expertise and when you go one step higher, sometimes you need services of foreign consultants and structural / civil engg. designer.

I believe what needs to be done (since we have the money for large capital projects unlike in the past), we need our govt. to put in MANDATORY clauses for DOCUMENTED technology and skills transfers so consultants HAVE to train a set of personnel in construction techniques before they leave.

OTOH recently-trained Bangladeshi experts may have to sign away a part of their salary (returned to them after maturity of condition after several years) as a clause for gaining this training. Also - we have to increase the salary of Bangladeshi construction experts much higher than at present and prevent foreigners from gaining illegal entry into local job market, no other country allows this and we should not either.

If salary is pushed up higher, it will also allow highly-trained Bangladeshi construction technologists residing overseas to return and add value in many ways.

There are many ways countries indigenize construction and industrial technology, and we have done little on this front to become self-sufficient. Korean Chaebols were for example construction powerhouses in the 70's (LG, DAEWOO, SAMSUNG). They combined forces to build almost all infrastructure for Middle East Gulf countries (especially Saudi Arabia and UAE). And hard-to-believe, they used to send delegations to East Pakistan at one time to learn our construction and electrification practices.

Maybe....but it's time we start building things without foreign assistance.

The level of commitment from the Govt. for this to happen is absent.

 

[bluesky]

Abdul Momen and Reza construction are at the forefront. Their quality of work is far better than Chinese and on time.

It is good to know about the two good BD construction companies. However, knowledge of construction itself is not enough to complete a project. I am certainly not an engineer but I have been with many of them learning while talking to know that many other pre-construction activities are required to be conducted. These are described, but not limited to, as follows:

1) Land/river surveying before preliminary site selection, Theodolite, Plane Table and Levelling.
2) Soil investigation by Standard Penetration Tests (SPT) to get the subsoil strength data. Get data for 30m or deeper subsoil and plot them on the drawings.
3) Civil Design Engineers decide the load-bearing capacities of soil and piled foundations by reading the SPT results.
4) The bridge site/route and locations for piers (Pillars) and the two abutments are finalized.
5) Civil/ Bridge Design Engineers decide the number of piles under each pier, and the size of the pile caps, pier, and beams (steel or concrete), etc.
6) They prepare the design and many construction drawings of piles, pile caps, beams, piers, and abutments.
7) After a few other activities, the construction companies enter the site and do the construction works as per drawings.

- Steps 1) and 2) are done by the soil investigation companies.
- Steps 3) to 6) are conducted by the Civil/Bridge Design Engineering companies.
- Only step 7) is undertaken by the engineers of a General Contractor.

So, unless the govt successfully implements a policy under which BD Design Companies learn how to do activities in steps 1) to 6), there is no way BD will be able to do a bridge construction by itself. In terms of money, construction takes more money.

But, steps 1) to 6) require knowledge on foundation and superstructure design analysis that does not come automatically if not learned under a planned procedure. Construction engineers certainly are unable to do the design works.

The US AASHTO (AASHO) specifications are a Bible for bridge design and construction throughout the world.

-Sorry for another long post-

@BitHeroBD