Cost overrun is an increase of cost of project from approved budget which was signed by parties at the time of tender. Cost overrun in construction of highway projects is a common problem worldwide and construction industry of Pakistan is also facing this crucial problem of cost overrun in highway projects of Pakistan. The main objective of this research is to identify the causative factors of cost overrun in highway projects of Sindh province of Pakistan. A well designed questionnaire was developed based on 64 common factors of cost overrun from literature review. Developed questionnaire was distributed among selected 30 experts from owner/client, designer/consultant and contractor who have experience more than 20 years' experience in highway projects. The collected data was statistical analyzed. After analysis results showed that delay process in payment by client, inadequate planning, client interference, poor contract management, delay of decision making, change of scope of project and financial problems faced by client were most causative factors of cost overrun in highway projects. This research will provide alertness to stakeholders of highway projects of Sindh province to avoid cost overrun in projects.

Crowded city centers pose serious problems of infrastructure and associated facilities. Construction industry is obliged to opt for vertical construction in place of short height structures in order to meet with the needs. This leads to the generation of huge quantities of demolishing waste whose management is a serious issue. One of its best uses is its utilization in new concrete. Concrete is widely used in construction industry. Normally 1:2:4 mix is used, but the use of rich mix is also common in columns and elsewhere. Therefore, this research work focuses on evaluating the flexural stress-strain behavior of rich concrete mix beams made with 50% replacement of natural coarse aggregates with coarse aggregates from old concrete. A total of 12 reinforced concrete beams 1:1.5:3 ratio mix and 0.54 w/c ratio are prepared in two batches in 0.9mx0.15mx0.15m beams. In the first batch, natural coarse aggregates are replaced in 50% with coarse aggregates from demolished concrete and the second batch contains beams made with all-natural coarse aggregates. To reinforce the beams, 2#4 deformed bars are used in compression and tension zone along with #3 stirrups at 15cm c/c all along the length of the beam. In each batch, half of the beams are cured for 7 days and half for 28 days. After curing, all beams are tested for load, deflection, and strain in a universal load testing machine. All parameters are recorded at regular intervals and cracking and failure patterns are monitored. From obtained results, it is analyzed that the beams presented 11.68% reduction in flexural capacity. Cracking pattern and failure mode of the beams is similar to those of the control specimen.

Purpose: Annually, hundreds of drilling crew suffer from major injuries during performing oil and gas drilling operation because of the deficiency of an adequate hazard safety management system for real-time decision-making in hazardous conditions. According to previous studies, there is a sheer industrial need for an effective industrial safety management decision support system for accident prevention at oil and gas drilling sites at both drilling domains. Therefore, this paper aims to focus on the design and development of knowledge base decision support system (KBDSS) for the prevention of hazardous activities at Middle Eastern and South Asian origins’ onshore and offshore oil and gas industries during drilling operations. Design/methodology/approach: In this study, data were gathered from safety and health professionals from targeted oil and gas industries in Malaysia, Saudi Arabia and Pakistan through quantitative and qualitative approaches. Based on identified data, KBDSSs (HAZFO Expert 1.0) were systematically developed and designed by adopting Database Development Life Cycle and Waterfall Software Development Life Cycle models. MySQL and Visual Studio 2015 software were used for developing and designing knowledge base and graphical user interface of the system. Findings: KBDSS (HAZFO Expert 1.0) for accident prevention at onshore and offshore oil and gas drilling industries based on identified potential hazards and their suitable controlling measures aligned with international safety standards and regulations. HAZFO Expert 1.0 is a novel KBDSS that covers all onshore and offshore drilling operations with three and nine outputs, respectively, to achieve the current trend of Industry Revolution 4.0 and Industrial IoTs for workforce safety. Practical implications: This industrial safety management system (HAZFO Expert 1.0) will be efficiently used for the identification and elimination of potential hazards associated with drilling activities at onshore and offshore drilling sites with an appropriate hazard controlling strategy. Originality/value: Moreover, the developed KBDS system is unique in terms of its architecture and is dynamic in nature because it provides HAZFO Expert 1.0 data management and insertion application for authorized users. This is the first KBDSS which covers both drilling domains in Malaysian, Saudi Arabian and Pakistani industries.

The problem of delay in construction industry is a regular phenomenon worldwide, and construction industry of Pakistan has no exception, particularly in highways projects. Delay can be described as the extension of time to complete the construction project. The aim of this paper is to identify main causes of delays in highway projects of Pakistan, and to determine mitigating measures for the identified causes. The research method of this study is based on literature review, questionnaire survey and semi structured interview. From in-depth literature review, twenty-six common causes of delay were found. A questionnaire survey was carried out among construction professionals of highway projects. The causes of delay in highways projects were ranked referring to their Mean values. A semi structured interview was carried out to determine mitigation measures for the top ten causes of delays. The data gathered from questionnaire survey was analyzed using SPSS (Statistical Package for the Social Sciences) while, data collected through semi structured interviews was analyzed using Nvivo software. The findings of this study are expected to be useful for construction parties, to mitigate the delays in highway construction projects of Pakistan.

In this article, the effect of prolonged fire (24-hour duration) on reinforced concrete beams made with recycled aggregates from demolished concrete was experimentally investigated. Demolished concrete was used recycled coarse aggregates in equal proportion with natural coarse aggregates. Normal and rich mix concrete with water-cement ratio equal to 0.54 were used. As a control specimen, beams with all-natural aggregates were also cast to compare with the results of the proposed beams. All beams were cured for 28 days and exposed to fire at 1000°C in an oven for 24 hours. After the elapse of this fire period, the beams were allowed to air cool, followed by testing till failure in a universal load testing machine. Comparison of the test results shows that rich mix concrete beams more reduction in flexural strength, more increase in maximum load carrying capacity and deflection than normal mix beams. The maximum reduction in flexural strength was 32.41% for beams cast with 50% RCA and rich mix. Although the fire duration used in this study is rare, yet the outcome provides guidelines for taking proper decisions for retrofitting/strengthening of the fire affected structure before putting it back in service.

Construction glitches have become serious issues for Malaysian construction projects. The construction industry is one of the industries driven by supply chains and affected by interconnected risks. Any disruption happening anywhere will halt the whole project or even other projects. However, massive literature is available to deal with various kinds of risks from the supply chain (SC) of the construction industry that have never been discussed before. This is an empirical investigation and the data was collected through a questionnaire distributed to the construction industry through systemic probability sampling. Final and purified data was analyzed with Structural Equation Modelling through Smart PLS. A total of three types of risks were identified from literature namely supply side risks (SR), process side risks (PR) and demand side risks (DR). It has been found that supply side risks and demand side risks have significant negative effects on supply chain performance (SCP) while process side risks also have negative effects on supply chain performance but not significant. This study will help managers to understand how supply chain risks (SCR) affect the construction industry and what type of risks they should be more aware of. This study covers only operational side risks while future research can be on other risks. Furthermore, various approaches can be proposed for mitigation but there is also a need to verify these approaches for Malaysia.