showered it with cold water until it cracked and
then removed. Finally, a channel of 20m wide was
gouged through the rocky mountain. The irrigation
system is still being used today.
Why the Leaning Tower of Pisa Hasn't
Fallen Over Yet
Civil engineers probably understand that the
Leaning Tower of Pisa was kept from collapse
thanks to some ingenious geotechnical
engineering. Engineers kept the tower from
collapsing by placing weights on the north end
of the foundation to right the structure. Now it is
believed that the structure will survive for hundred
more years.
How Fast is too Fast for sewage flow
in a pipe
One of the less glamorous parts of civil engineering
is knowing how to handle wastewater. We know
that sewage has to flow over 3 feet per second in
horizontal pipes. We also know that if sewage flows
too fast, like over 12-18 feet per second, then
dangerous gasses can be produced and everyone
has a bad day. There's a lot more science around
handling your waste than you may think.
Magnified Challenges of Megaprojects
Source: KPMG
Over the past few years, more megaprojects of
greater scale and complexity, have been proposed
and constructed. High-profile examples include
the new bridge linking Hong Kong to Macau and
Zhuhai, Thailand’s Eastern Economic Corridor,
Australia’s Inland Rail project and the Dubai Solar
Park (this is the world’s largest single-site solar
installation to which more than USD4.3 billion of
private investment has been committed).
As megaprojects become larger and more
complex, new lessons and challenges are
emerging. In particular, it has become clear that
cross-border projects require unprecedented
levels of collaboration between Governments. Few
Governments are interested in having the rules of
engagement dictated to them; everyone is looking
for a win-win situation.
Over the past year, we have also seen issues
related to the politicisation of megaprojects. In
some markets, we have witnessed megaprojects
being sacrificed on the political pyre as populist
candidates turn existing projects into political
platforms (Mexico’s new President recently
halted a USD13 billion airport project that was
already under construction). In other cases,
fiscal prudence and concerns about project
transparency have led to the cancellation of key
endeavours.
C apacit y is also rapidly becoming a
challenge. The reality is that there are very few
major construction companies in any market
with the size and experience to successfully
deliver megaprojects. We are currently seeing
this in Australia, where the country is investing
in a portfolio of giant infrastructure projects,
many valued at more than USD2 billion. This
means that some project owners are being
forced to choose between paying more for
consortium of experienced local companies,
taking a risk by accepting inexperienced
players or bringing in foreign competitors; a
difficult balance.
Perhaps not surprisingly, capability is
also becoming a problem, particularly at the
management level. Indeed, as projects become
bigger and bigger, it is becoming increasingly
difficult to find individuals with experience
managing projects of such massive size and
complexity.
As projects get bigger and more complex,
they are becoming inherently more risky.
That makes it increasingly difficult for project
promoters to keep their nerve when things
start to go wrong. In this environment, we
expect to see project owners find a new thirst
for benchmarking, analyzing performance and
learning lessons from other successful projects
globally as they seek to defend projects against
political and financial pressures. Given all these
constraints, we may be rapidly approaching the
effective limits of project size and complexity
unless new approaches to project delivery are
developed.
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