Planning and Implementation of the Braidwood Sewerage Treatment Plant Upgrade - Example

Report On Planning And Implementation of the Braidwood Sewerage Treatment Plant Upgrade Name Course name Instructor’s name Date Abstract The upgrade of Braidwood sewerage treatment facility in New South Wales Australia was necessitated by the increased demand of a high capacity facility. This was further intricate by the increasing population that over pressurized the existing treatment facility and by far overcame its capacity thereby reducing its overall performance. Environmental management regulations also necessitated the implementation of new strategies on treated sewerage discharge into water bodies which the old facility was not in compliance with. The project was contracted to Precision Pipelines PTY LTD for a period of three years but the delivery of a complete project was delayed by at least three months. The project outcomes included better sewerage treatment for the community at Braidwood and a more eco-friendly facility with thoroughly treated discharge into the rivers. Table of Contents Abstract 2 Table of Contents 3 Introduction 4 Stakeholders’ Analysis 5 Project management 7 Analysis of project outcomes 8 Conclusion 9 Reference list 10 Introduction The Braidwood sewerage treatment plant upgrade was completed in late 2010. This followed extensive deterioration of the existing sewerage plant due to its age and lack of functionality coupled with the increased amount of sewerage from the equally increasing population. Advancements in legislature also had superseded the existing sewerage plant as it was not incompliance with the environmental protection authority requirements. This project was funded by the Australian government, the New South Wales government and the Palerang Council (Merkel, 2011). The objective was to ensure sewerage treatment up to acceptable levels for discharge into the flood creek under supervision of environmental experts to ensure that the discharge could not harm the aquatic ecosystem. The project also aimed at providing alternative overflow storage to minimize the probability of discharging untreated sewerage into the flood creek. Through the improvement of the plant the use of recycled water was to be greatly improved to minimize unsustainable utilization of the water resource available (Mayo, 1977). From the improvement the Palerang Council will be able to meet the Environmental Protection Authority Licensing requirement. The treatment plant will provide a lee way of improving the effluent to standards prescribed by the NSW Department of Environment, Climate Change and Water, and the Sydney Catchment Authority (NSW Department of Environment, Climate Change and Water NSWDECCW, 2010). Future growth of population was considered and the new implementation of the plant would provide long lasting solution for many years to come. The management and overall over seer of the project was the Precision Pipeline PTY Ltd. Other companies involved are such as the Public Works Department of the NSW who were in charge of management of the contract. With this management team, the project successfully came to a completion that satisfied the council’s expectation and met most of the objectives set out in the project plan. The high standard of the new system was adequate for effluent treatment that meets the license conditions for operationalization. The operationalization of the new plant was started in August 2010 and the plant was then handed over to the council for management. Operation costs will be funded by the annual sewerage charges that are levied on the customers utilizing the sewerage services (Merkel, 2011). Stakeholders’ Analysis Stakeholders of the upgrade are the community who will ultimately utilize the project and the contractors who are involved in the project development. Other stakeholders who are secondarily affected by the project include the sub-contractors who will be involved in delivery of materials. The councils and governments were the greatest stakeholders whom pleasing will be beneficial to project implementation (McGee, & Wilson, 2005). The overall project manager identified these stakeholders and deemed it necessary to interact effectively with them to increase the support for the implementation of the project. The stakeholders’ analysis is used to guide the implementation of the project as this abets success (Meredith & Mantel 1995). The success of the project can be attributed to the intensive nature of involvement of all stakeholders and the quest to satisfy all their interests. The governments and management councils were fully gratified by the fulfillment of the legislative requirements. The main contractors of the project, Precision Pipelines Pty Ltd were under the managements of the NSW Public Works. The NSW Department of Environment Climate Change And Water monitored the discharge volumes and nutrient content of the discharge to ensure that upon completion the discharge was good enough to be released to the environment. Data collected from the SCA and water quality control data was used in identification of locations for upgrades such as the Braidwood sewerage treatment plant and protection of water quality within the area. The engagement of the stakeholders was done depending on the level of interest of their and involvement in project implementation. The management strategized well enough not to put too much pressure on the stakeholders to the extent that they saw the whole project as a big bother. The stakeholders’ views were also closely considered to ensure that minor mistakes were avoided such as spillages during the conveyance of sewerage to the treatment plant and from the treatment plant to the surrounding environment. The employees of Precision Pipeline Pty Ltd will benefit from training to improve their skills and qualification. This is in line with the management plan which involves the assessment of each employee to ascertain their training needs for the coming year. The training needs are prioritized and incorporated in accordance with the training plan. This way the company develops a more enhanced workforce which is compliant with advancements in the field of operation. The community and the end users of the project were well informed of the project development. The information included the status of the project and the condition of the environment. Constant communication ensured that all stakeholders participate in taking positive steps for improvement and implementation of the project. The success of this aspect of the project resulted from the liaison between the company and the community environment groups who promoted programs to raise public awareness of the environmental problems. The management of the project was keen to maintain good public relations with the community as to provide a consultation forum and seek feedback from the community about the councils program. Through timely and accurate manner in which the information and reports were delivered to the community, it was possible to ensure the establishment of positive and cooperative relationships with the community organizations (Sauer, Liu & Johnston, 2001). Project management The improvement of the sewerage treatment plant involved the installation of new interceptor sewer lines to convey waste water to the treatment plant. The new conveyors were more advanced in avoidance of spillages that would lead to pollution of the environment. Besides this, the project also had improvements on the capacity of wastewater treated to meet the demands of the ever increasing population; the upgraded plant will have a capacity of 20 million gallons per day. Removal of solids contained in the waste water will be improved with more filters and trappers of solids such as rags, sand and other small particles found in wastewater. There will also be improvement on the reduction of organic matter and pollutants using naturally occurring bacteria and other microorganisms (NSWDECCW, 2010). The management strategy was to involve all stakeholders who in turn provided feedback about the project development. The aim was to achieve approval of the consumers and to meet the prospects of the community. Through feedback it was possible to ascertain the impact of every stage of project development and modify on the initial project plan (Turner & Muller, 2005). The project was therefore user centered with all legislature followed to the latter by legalizing all aspects of the development and mitigating environmental impacts. The involvement of different arms of governing authority legitimized the implementation and was a way of seeking clarification on different impacts the project had on the environment and the community as a whole (McGee,& Wilson, 2005) The project however encountered drawback in the failure of the first contract which led to unnecessary loss of investment on implementation. The cost of failure was eventually transferred to the residents in increased charges on water usage if they are to receive good water supply for the town (Jacobson, 2008). Such drawbacks to project implementation are evidence of poor planning in the initial stages which could have been avoided by all parties involved being clearly informed about the project (Prahalad & Hamel, 1990). This redirection of project planning is a loss of project implementation time and only results into the shift of deadlines and compromises on project outcome quality (Brightman, 2004). The aspect of project planning that considers the analysis of contractors before assigning of contracts failed in its deliberation and contracted an incompetent company for the project. Sub-contractors also had problems delivering services or goods to the project site mainly due to the wet whether that rendered most of the road unusable to the heavy vehicles. Analysis of project outcomes The main outcome of the project is a reliable and modern sewage treatment plant with high capacity and high quality effluent discharge. The final outcome is able to meet the future demands of the residents with population growth projected to keep increasing with time. This was all achieved under the close supervision of the New South Wale Department of Environment Climate Change And Water And The Sydney Catchment Authority. These authorities were not only the supervisors but the overall managers of the sewage treatment facilities after completion. The council gained a new sewage treatment plant worth over $ 7.5 million (NSWDECCW, 2010). Conclusion Good project management is imperative and cannot be neglected in implementation of projects if success is paramount. It is important to ascertain the role of key players of the project and at the same time access their individual capabilities in implementation of the project. The re-awarding of the contract negatively impacted on the schedule of the whole project and resulted in delays in project completion. This was further complicated by poor delivery of project requirements by the sub-contractors for various reasons some of which were unavoidable. The project outcomes were wholly met according to the project objectives. The success of upgrade of Braidwood sewerage system is attributed to the intrinsic relation between the management of the project and all key stakeholders. Through constant communication it was possible to determine the impact of various project strategies on the community and the legislature concerned. The project development therefore was able to re-strategizes every project implementation procedure in accordance to initial project plan and review as the project goes on. Reference list Brightman, B. K. (2004) Why managers fail, and how organizations can rewrite the script The Journal of Business Strategy, 25, 47-52 Jacobson, H. (2008), Sewerage charges on agenda. Braidwood Times 18 May, p.1. Mayo, E. (1977) The human problems of an industrial civilization, Arno Press, New York McGee, Thomas and Wilson (2005) Strategy: Analysis and Practice, McGraw Hill London Meredith, J. R. and Mantel, S. J. (1995) Project management: a managerial approach, Wiley, New York Merkel, O. (2011) Merging the water and sewerage funds. Braidwood Times 13 Apr, p. 2 NSW Department of Environment, Climate Change and Water (2010) Braidwood Sewage Treatment Plant Final Report, NSW: Australia Prahalad, C and Hamel, G (1990) ‘The core competencies of the organization’, Harvard BusinessReview, May-June Sauer, C., Liu, L. and Johnston, K. (2001) Where project managers are kings. Project Management Journal., 32, 42 Turner, J and Muller, R (2005) ‘The project manager’s leadership style as a success factor on Projects: a literature review,’ Project Management Journal, 36, no 2, June pp. 52 Read More