Book Review - Technical and contractual issues and the Engineer’s decisions

BY Eng. K.P.I.U. Dharmapala

A book on construction issues has written by one of our corporate members Engineer C. Wijayaratna with the title “Technical and contractual issues and the Engineer’s decisions”

The book deals with actual events as a dozen or so case studies from a project in the dry zone of Sri Lanka. Topics range from, ‘Crack formation on asphalt concrete on a tank bund section, Disagreements on EOT, on revision of input percentages etc., A threat to remove machinery on payment delay, A futile effort to blame increased traffic for road cracks caused by less thick base layer at some paces, Very late request to change design to win an EOT claim on the sly, and interesting cooperation between the parties to overcome a material shortage in the project area, etc.

According to the writer most of the issues were settled amicably with the contractor accepting the Engineer’s decision after lengthy exchange of correspondence. A few have been resorted to dispute resolution and their out come is not given.

At the end of each chapter there is section as “lessons to learn”. This will be a good guidance to young Resident Engineers and Project Managers of the contractors

The book is an inspiration to senior engineers to write their experience too, for the benefit of the future Engineers in Sri Lanka

Eng. Wijayaratna has been donated a copy of this book for IESL library. Publisher is Sihela Time and Space of 616, Makola north Makola Tel.0773095665. Copies are available for purchase with Sarasavi book shop for those who are interested.

Eng. K.P.I.U. Dharmapala
Past President (2021/2022)