Mecca: Mustafa Ahmed Hikmi

<Dr. Bassam Ghulman, development projects expert and supervisor of the Haramain train project, revealed the components and success factors of projects, which he summarized in 20 items that ensure the excellence and success of projects.
Dr. Ghulman addressed the functions and tasks of the project manager in a meeting held at the Saleh Abdullah Kamel Hall at the Makkah Chamber of Commerce and Industry yesterday, and limited them to planning, scheduling, organizing, structuring, staffing, preparing the human cadre, monitoring, control, control, follow-up, and guidance.

He pointed out that one of the most important reasons for the success of projects is the existence of a project resource management department that is concerned with planning and cost estimation, determining the actual need for labor, equipment, machinery, building materials, and following up on subcontractors.

Quality of materials needed
Through his personal experience in project management, Gulman warned that providing equipment of all kinds from one agent is better than multiple agents in order to achieve the benefit of winning the services of the agent to provide spare parts and maintenance, stressing that maintaining equipment and machinery, especially large ones, within the project is better than moving them outside the project to gain time.

He pointed out that the resource management is concerned with ensuring the quality and quantity of materials needed for the project, pointing out the importance of taking into account the specifications, standards, date of supply and method of supply. “It is not a good practice for project managers to supply the necessary materials in an early period to the site, which may cause obstruction to the movement of equipment, cars, machinery and labor and expose them to theft, sabotage and damage to bad weather conditions.”

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The importance of subcontractor management
Dr. Ghulman stressed the importance of managing subcontractors for the success of any large project that requires the entry of specialized contractors, pointing to the golden rule in dealing with the subcontractor is "the subcontractor signing the same contract that the main contractor signed with the owner to bind him to what the main contractor commits to the items mentioned in the contract." He added, ”Subcontracting is the weapon of the involved contractor,” indicating that subcontracting is a philosophy through which the main contractor tries to achieve gains with the least possible effort in light of the system allowing dealing in this way for good reasons, including creating the opportunity for specialized contractors to participate in implementing some components of the project

Project cost estimation
Dr. Ghulman explained that one of the factors in achieving success for any project is good planning, which includes identifying the processes to be implemented, as well as identifying the relationship between each activity within the project, indicating that one of the most famous planning methods is the critical path method, which is used 90% in projects implemented in the Kingdom.

He addressed the role of estimating the cost of the project to achieve success in its implementation and said: "The cost estimation process starts from the beginning of the project design process to identify the financial capabilities and capabilities of the owner or developer, and the task of cost estimation is to ensure the implementation of engineering designs without exceeding the size of the estimated budget for the implementation of the project work."
He pointed out that there are two ways to estimate the cost of any project, the first is the approximate method, which is characterized by its ease and speed of implementation, but it is not accurate, as represented by the method of estimating the cost of implementing a hospital project, where its cost is usually estimated according to the number of beds, which is estimated at one million riyals per bed, so that the estimate of implementing a hospital project with 400 beds is "400 million riyals".

He pointed out that among the methods of approximate estimation of the cost of projects is the method of area unit by calculating the areas of construction and the method of volume unit to calculate the costs of building tanks, refrigerators and warehouses, and uses the cost method that is used in the estimation of repeated and similar projects such as villas and housing apartments, and there is a method of costing the parts of the project, such as the cost of implementing foundations, then columns and roofs.

He pointed out that the second method is the detailed method, which is considered the most important and gives more accurate figures and is characterized by the fact that it can only be worked on once the project drawings, specifications and conditions are complete and available.