CPU College

Department of Project Managment

Final Exam for Project planning and

scheduling Instructor: Kurabachew Menber

(PhD) Submit: Before JUNE 29: 1:59 PM

Discuss the following questions briefly and show the necessary steps for the
calculation part.

Case study: From Ethiopian rail way Infrastructure sector (15 points) planning part

In April 2019, Minister of Transport, Dagmawit Moges has presented the first nine month
report to The Parliament or House of Peoples Representative (HPR) about the progress of the
Awash – Mekele heavy railway route construction divided into two phases/projects. The main
points stressed in the report are summarized below.

“The Minister disclosed that the construction of the Awash – Kombolcha –Woldya/

Hara Gebeya railway route, which stretches from Eastern to the Northern part of the country,
has only managed to reach only 54% completed over the past five years. In her report, she
highlighted projects’ performance, which is divided into two phases, namely – the Awash –
Kombolcha –Woldya/ Hara Gebeya phase and Woldya/ Hara Gebeya – Mekelle phase. She
added that, actual performance for the Awash – Kombolcha – Woldya/ Hara Gebeya railway
project for the first nine months (between August 2018 and April 2019), was 5.75% of the
targeted 9.6% (almost 60% of the target). Similarly, for the Woldya/Hara Gebeya – Mekelle
phase, she disclosed that the plan for the first nine months, between August 2018 and April
2019, was to achieve 6.7% of the project construction. However, the Ministry only managed
to achieve 1.9% (around 28% of the target)”.

Explaining the reason for the projects’ delay, the minister told MPs that, “ initially, the project
was commenced based on the agreement to cover 40% of the project finance from local
sources/by government; while the remaining 60% was to be collected from foreign lenders via
soft loan”. She added saying “the minstry has only been able to solicit only 28% of the
required total budget from local sources, while the expected financing from foreign lenders
has not yet been successful.”
To sustain the construction of the projects, the minister told parliament that, “Taking into
account the importance of the project for the society and country as a whole, we are going to
request the Ministry of Finance (MoF) to help us and allocate additionalbudget”

Source: Extracted from The Reporter, 27 April 2019.

Additional Information from other sources:

The National Railway Network of Ethiopia (NRNE) is one of the several projects constituted
in the GTP II. The NRNE constitutes eight heavy railway routes, divided into eleven projects,
with total length of 5,0060km in all directions, planned to be implemented during GTP II
period, with the aim of enhancing the transportation network within the country by connecting
to adjacent countries and ports. Furthermore, the eleven railway projects routes were
categorized into two phases: The first phase includes 5 projects including, the Addis Ababa-
Djibouti, Kombolcha –Woldya/ Hara Gebeya; and Woldya/ Hara Gebeya – Mekelle railway
projects; while phase two railway projects includes six projects. Thus far, only the Addis
Ababa-Djibouti railway project was completed and becomes operational in 2017. Thus, the
Awash – Mekelle railway route is the second route in the portfolio. The first project in the
route covers 400km-long new railway line from Awash – Kombolcha –Woldya/ Hara Gebeya
was awarded to Yapi Merkezi (Turkish based and one of the leading importation
infrastructure companies with vast experience in rail systems) at the cost of 1.7bn USD. This
first phase project implementation was started in February 2014 and the contractual terms
mandated to complete the construction of the new line within 42 months; that is at the end of
July 2017. And the Woldya/Hara Gebeya – Mekelle railway project that cover 268km and
awarded to China Communication Construction Co. (CCCC) at the cost of 1.5bn USD was
expected to be finished within two years from its commencement in February 2015.

In an interview with the media at the end of April 2019, a higher official from the Ministry of
Transport (MoT) told journalists that “The Ethiopian Railway Corporation (ERC) can finish
the track laying construction of first phase of the railway project in 18 months if it secures the
needed finance”. However, in an interview held with media in October 2019 the corporate
communication director of the EEPCo told reporters angrily that “EEPCo is not ready to avail
the power required to make the railway operations in the near future”.
Note that due to scarcity and efficient allocation of scarce resource for national development,
it is valid for any stakeholder to assume the following about the Awash – Mekelle railway
route projects: i) all aspects of feasibility study required for such large infrastructure project
was carried out by the project owner - MoT the during the project design stage taking into
account lessons from the Addis Ababa-Djibouti railway construction; ii) the MoFEC has done
appropriate appraisal based on the PAD it has published before allocating fund for the project;
and iii) detail analysis on all aspects (including risk) were conducted by the Ethiopian
Railway Corporation (ERC), responsible for managing the project, during planning of
management documents such as implementation, resource smoothing, monitoring,
communication plans, etc.

With the information above, answer the following FOUR questions:

a. Shortage of finance is the core problem and delay of the project progress is one of the
effects of the core problem. What do you think were aspects and components not
analyzed thoroughly during the feasibility analysis from the MoT statement that “the
ministry has only been able to solicit only 28% of the required total budget from local
sources, while the expected financing from foreign lenders has not yet been
successful”. Mention at least three reasons and discuss briefly (5 points)
b. As public institution, though EEPCo is not expected to say “it is not ready to avail the
power required to make the railway operations in the near future” i) what does this
stand implies or what drives it take this stand? ii) In which group do you think EEPCo
will lie in relation to the project and discuss why? (4 points)
c. From the above information we can understand that the completion of the Awash –
Mekelle project (i.e., the two phases) is already elapsed by almost 2 years. What are
the likely effects (at least 3) of the delay in the project on the country and on the
public? (3 points)
d. Project plans are not static, instead they are Cognizant of the importance of
development projects on social welfare and developments of the country, what lessons
(at least three) need the country to draw from the failures of the aforementioned heavy
railway projects and to be integrated into the GTP III? Mention and discuss at least
three lessons (3 points)
1. Consider a typical Manufacturing project with the following 14 list of Activities to
accomplish it from initiation to being operational.

Activit Activit Immediate Duratio Cras Normal Crash

y no y Predecesso n (weeks h cost(Thousand cost(thousand
r ) time s Birr s birr

1 A - 4 4 400 400
2 B A 8 6 300 350
3 C A 5 4 600 620
4 D A 10 8 800 1000
5 E B, C 5 4 80 120
6 F C, D 9 6 1000 1200
7 G D 6 5 580 600
8 H D 4 3 760 840
9 I E, F, G 4 4 900 900
10 G F 7 6 420 560
11 K F, G 8 6 90 110
12 L H 10 8 200 240
13 M I, J 7 6 60 140
14 N K ,L, M 9 7 50 80

a. Draw the network Diagram for the project activities (5pts)

b. Determine the critical path of the project and calculate the project completion timed
(5pts)
c. Show the earliest start and late finish time and their float for all the activities of the
project(5pts)
d. Determine the normal cost of the project and the cost of the project after crashing?
5pts
e. By how many days the project can be shortened 5pts

Good Luck