SYNOPSIS

Interim progress claim issues in the construction industry are considered to be a factor of significant concern, whether in government or privately funded projects. Due to the fact that the duration of construction projects is relatively long, the size is usually relatively large and interim claim sums involved are often relatively large, it is difficult for the contractor from the financial aspect to complete the project without receiving payment periodically throughout the implementation of the project.

Almost everyone involved knew the benefits of making timely payment of interim progress claims on the delivery of the projects, nevertheless, there are issue related to interim progress claims that lead to late payment, nonpayment or under payment. Project delay is costly for both the project owner and contractor. To the owner, a delay means loss of potential revenue, whereas to the contractor, a delay means increased costs in overhead. Therefore, it is in the interest of all major stakeholders to ensure that the contractor receives payment on time and as claimed.

The talk will discuss on the factors that lead to late payment, nonpayment or under payment from project scheduling perspective and possible solutions to address them. The possible solutions are drawn from many sources and also from writer's own experience in managing construction projects as Superintending Officer Representative (SO Rep.) and projects' team member.


BIODATA OF SPEAKER

Ir. Wan Ibrahim Bin Wan Yusoff

Ir. Wan Ibrahim bin Wan Yusoff, RPD, CCPM, is a project management practitioner and a professional engineer with practicing certificate. He holds a bachelor degree in civil engineering and master degree in project management. He has worked as a civil engineer at Jabatan Kerja Raya (JKR) for over 36 years and has experience in building structural design, project site supervision, project management, and competency training.

During the span of his career with JKR, Ir. Wan Ibrahim was attached to Road Special Project Team and was assigned as resident engineer for several projects in Klang Valley such as Kuala Lumpur - Rawang - Seremban Elevated Railway Crossing Projects and Kuala Lumpur Middle Ring Projects. Later Ir. Wan Ibrahim was transferred to JKR Port & Airport Branch where he collaborated with project teams to ensure that projects handled by the branch are completed on time, cost and quality.

Later in his career at JKR, Ir. Wan Ibrahim was assigned to JKR Project Management Office where his main responsibility was to lead a team to promote usage of project management tools & techniques to JKR offices across the country in order to ensure projects' success. Some of the best practices promoted were project planning and scheduling, project management plan, project health check, and project risks management.

In addition to performing duties related to managing projects, Ir. Wan Ibrahim was also involved in providing training on project management. He has collaborated with fellow professionals to develop competency-based training modules on project management, project scheduling, project quality management and project risk management for project team members.

Ir. Wan Ibrahim has retired from JKR in Dec 2019 and his last post was the Director of Engineering Competency, Certification and Accreditation Division, JKR’s Centre of Research and Technology Excellence (CREaTE). Air Keroh, Melaka. He is now a lead trainer with WZ Training and Development PLT, where he is in charge of developing and conducting training and workshop on project management.