Management of Complex Combination of Construction Interface among National & International Stakeholders on a Light Rapid Transit System Project in a Developing Country

Light Rapid Transit System Projects (LRTS) are complex projects and thus require extensive planning and execution of multi-disciplinary interfaces throughout the project lifecycle. Developing countries are technically and financially constrained towards the execution of such projects leaving LRTS projects subject to fragmentation and contract work-splitting thus forming complex construction interfaces. The elaborate regime of dealing with construction interfaces from the perspective of contract work-splitting on LRTS projects is yet to be studied. This paper presents a case study of an LRTS project in a developing country involving an international contractor and focuses on the formation and implementation regime of complex interfaces formed as a result of contract work-splitting. The study applies a single case study-based approach and analyzes the empirical data using cause and effect analysis on the interface points (IP) to identify the key Interface Management (IM) issues at LRTS project. The IM issues are critically analyzed to outline unique issues in a developing country. Issues like the impact of international procurement on Interface Point (IP) inside an LRTS elevated station etc. are unique due to the background factors like the involvement of international multi-disciplinary contractors and the splitting of design among national and international parties. Findings will contribute towards devising appropriate contract work-split-based preventive construction interface methodologies along with Project Delivery System (PDS) for local and international contractors on LRTS projects.