A Review on Problems of the Public Building Maintenance Works with Special Reference to Nepal

Abstract

The study was conducted during the period from the month of March to April 2020. Published literatures such as thesis, paper, manuals, reports, and database were collected from different sources and studied thoroughly. The conclusions were drawn on the basis of the studied materials. The study found that the public buildings of any nation are too valuable assets and maintaining them at regular functional state is becoming challenging job for developing countries like Nepal. The most significant building maintenance problems are: plumbing and w/s, toilet, bathroom and sanitary, electrical problems, poor maintenance management and practices, peeling of paint, dampness, surface cracking, growth of fungi or small plants and decay or breaking of floor/tile. Decay, deterioration and failure of the fabric and finishing of a building due to negligence of maintenance have harmful effects on the contents and occupants. Causes of maintenance problems can be grouped as managerial, technical, building user related and natural causes. There are major causes such as design defects, inadequate contractor and construction supervision, use of low quality materials and workmanship, unavailability of qualified human resources and quality materials, poor maintenance management, insufficient maintenance fund but high and unexpected cost, age of building, natural disaster and earth settlement and so on. Lack of proper maintenance department, programs, plan and policy are the critical issues of improvement by public institutions. Patent and latent defects in buildings are serious issues and failure to address them would contribute to additional rectification cost, hamper the smooth operation of the building and reduce its service life. Buildings and facilities that are not properly maintained can cause discomfort and lead to accidents and injury to the users. The study would like to suggest that the handling of maintenance problems should be minimized by identifying the root causes and applying the effective and efficient maintenance management program. Precaution should be applied at design and construction stage ensuring quality construction and delivery with all building documents. Furthermore, each public institution should formulate maintenance objectives, apply suitable strategy, manage adequate resources, develop maintenance action plan, periodic review of performance and strategy at service stage.

Problems Associated with the Implementation of Bioengineering in Hill Road Construction in Nepal

“…From the responses obtained, it was concluded that although the bioengineering technique had been beneficial to solve the problems related to landslide and soil erosion, the lack of preparation, design, proper implementation, maintenance, monitoring, evaluation, and other relevant factors had caused the slope and road to revert back to its deteriorating state. According to (Chandra Dahal & Raj Dahal, 2020), poor preparation and maintenance culture are the major problems that affect the projects like the one in this research. The problems in the proper implementation of the bioengineering technique, problems in the transportation of raw materials, problems in the storage of raw materials, lack of community participation, political issues, lack of mobilization of manpower, lack of proper selection of plant species for bioengineering and lack of seedbed for fertilization caused a ruckus during the construction activities.…”

Problems associated with implementation of bioengineering in hill road construction in Nepal

“…From the responses obtained, it was concluded that although the bioengineering technique had been beneficial to solve the problems related to landslide and soil erosion, the lack of preparation, design, proper implementation, maintenance, monitoring, evaluation, and other relevant factors had caused the slope and road to revert-back to its deteriorating state. According to [14], the poor preparation and maintenance culture are the major problems that affect the projects like the one in this research. The problems in proper implementation of the bioengineering technique, problems in transportation of raw materials, problems in storage of raw materials, lack of community participation, political issues, lack of mobilization of manpower, lack of proper selection of plant species for bioengineering, and lack of seedbed for fertilization caused ruckus during the construction activities.…”

Appraising the maintenance practices in shopping malls across Lagos metropolis

“…In buildings, replacements are made wherever possible. It is unavoidable since various materials deteriorate at different rates due to service circumstances [33]. A lot of replacement work is caused more by deterioration of appearance than by actual material or constituent failure [34].…”

“…Building deterioration mainly depends on the type of building and the maintenance practices in place. According to [33], the main reasons for deterioration include the age of the building, natural disasters, ground settlement, deficiencies in design, poor construction supervision, the use of inferior materials, and poor workmanship. Similar studies from [52] showed that improper maintenance, inadequate design, poor workmanship, and low-quality materials are also major reasons for deterioration.…”