The calcium carbonate whisker (CW) and basalt fiber are gaining popularity due to its enhanced mechanical properties in composites. Also, the short and long fibers provide bridging role and resistance against cracking from micro- to macro-scale, respectively. The usage of long and short hybrid basalt fiber along with addition of CW in cement-based composites is still a research gap. In this work, experimental behavior of CW basalt hybrid fiber reinforced mortar is considered with various content and length (3 mm, 6 mm, 12 mm, and 20 mm) of hybrid basalt fibers. In addition to this, synergy performance index is determined to quantitatively evaluate the positive interaction of hybrid basalt fiber in cementitious materials. The strengthening effect of whiskers and basalt fibers are also studied using scanning electron microscopy. The CW with various basalt fiber contents having different length of hybrid basalt fiber is used. It was found that the four various length of hybrid basalt fiber together with CW in cement mortar exhibited enhanced compressive, flexural, and split tensile strength than that of pure mortar and single length basalt fiber reinforced cementitious mortar. The results of synergy performance index showed similar trend with the experimental results. The strengthening effect caused by step by step crack arresting mechanism was also observed in cementitious material.

Project delays are a large and prevalent problem in the Gilgit-Baltistan construction industry, and delays can distinctly affect project duration, budget, and also community needs. The purpose of this study is to highlight and rank delaying factors in the Annual Development Programme public sector building infrastructure projects and examine them through a relative importance index. A total of 52 delaying factors were identified through a detailed literature review and categorized into eight major groups, and a pilot study with 16 experienced construction experts was conducted. A questionnaire survey was conducted to collect the importance of each factor from public construction experts. In total, 102 respondents participated in the survey. The study determined that difficulties in financing projects by contractors, delays in progress payments, dispute on land usage, improper project feasibility studies, award project to the lowest bid price, extreme weather conditions, inadequate contractor experience, and insufficient data collection and survey before design were among the top eight critical delaying factors. In addition, Spearman’s rank correlation tests revealed that there was no difference in perception between owners and contractors. A comparison of the top five delay factors was done with eight preferred construction industries in Asia to validate the results of this study. The findings are likely to be a solid contribution to the Gilgit-Baltistan construction industry in mitigating future construction delays.