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PATTAYA FOCUS ON…….

How to Build a Road (Part 1)

By Tar Mack

This feature will help anyone who is planning to build a road. Properly.

Happily, whilst none of the problems I mention below have ever happened in Pattaya, for this series of articles, I thought I would use some photographs to illustrate my points about road building, choosing at random from the Thappraya Road project, which, some small tweaks aside, is a fine example of Pattaya road building, and one which is coming along speedily, to the complete satisfaction of road users, nearby businesses and inhabitants.

Own The Land

Of course, rule 101 of road building is to ensure you actually own all the land the road will be built on, preferably before you start work. Some people don’t, with disastrous results, huge inconvenience and massive delays.

Draw up a Professional Specification

Your first job should be to employ some road consultants who know what a road is, what it’s for, what it should look like, what is needed on it, and how it should best be built.

Have them draw up something called a specification.

Open and Fair, Competitive Tender

Ask a number of road construction companies to tender for the job, strictly based on the specification, in an unbiased, fair and competitive way, asking them to actually prove they can build a road of the quality you desire, and that they have done so before.

When you have the tenders, look into them closely, check their work, visit the roads they say they built.

If you are happy, decide who wins the tender strictly on price and previous performance. Whatever you do, don’t do anything at this stage that might compromise the ‘integrity’ of your road.

Negotiate a Proper Contract

Now negotiate a contract. Again you should use people who have negotiated road contracts before and know what should go in them. Do not use some teenage layabout you are giving work experience to in the office to negotiate this important document.

In the contract, ensure the company agrees to build the road strictly to the specification you have set out.

Then only agree to pay them at stages of the project when they demonstrate they have built to the specification they have agreed on in the tender. Do not foolishly give them all of your money upfront, or in huge lump sums without checking the road is being built to your specification.

This is a mistake a child wouldn’t make. The company can run off with all your money without building a road at all, or build a grossly substandard road for you, then go bust and there is nothing you can do about it.

Make sure the main contractor cannot subcontract the job to other companies without your express consent. Otherwise, once they take your money, they may subcontract the whole construction to an inappropriately unprofessional firm, without paying them anything, before disappearing, leaving the subcontractor to half-build a shoddy road grossly below the specification needed. And the subcontractor still expects to be paid by you.

I know, surely this could never happen. And you’re right. Or at least, thankfully, not in Pattaya.

Time Limits and Penalties

Commit the builder to a time in which to finish the project. If he doesn’t do it in the time you agree, you make him pay YOU big financial penalties for late completion, which stops the project dragging on for years, annoying everyone who lives, works and uses the road.

This is such an utterly basic commercial point it is embarrassing how often this seems to be left out of contracts here. Make sure you don’t make the same mistake.

However even if the main contractor does build the road, if you haven’t done your homework on their skills, or you didn’t produce a proper specification (or you actually didn’t own all the land needed in the first place), things can still turn out very badly.

In the following series of articles I will be showing you the results of failure to adhere to the above basic road building rules using Thappraya Road as the Gold Standard for what a new road should look like when it is built the right way, in a speedy fashion and to the highest international standards.

Next Edition – How (not) to build a proper road surface.

-- Pattaya One 2010-10-01

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