Project Management: North East Link Melbourne

This document provides an overview of the construction project of North East Link in Melbourne, including its budget, social and economic rationale, key statistics, funding mechanism, and key stakeholders. It also includes a risk analysis and a risk mitigation plan.

Running head: PROJECT MANAGEMENT
Project management: North East Link Melbourne
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author’s Note

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Table of Contents
Part A. Project overview..................................................................................................................2
A.1 Overview of the project........................................................................................................2
A.2 Overall budget of the project................................................................................................2
A.3 Social and economic rationale..............................................................................................2
A.4 Key statistics.........................................................................................................................3
A.5. Funding mechanism.............................................................................................................8
A.6 Key stakeholders...................................................................................................................9
Part B: Risk analysis........................................................................................................................9
Part C: Risk mitigation plan..........................................................................................................16
Bibliography..................................................................................................................................23

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Part A. Project overview
A.1 Overview of the project
The paper mainly reflects on the construction of “North East Link in Melbourne”. It is
found that North east link will be helpful in delivering three major project which mainly include
construction of North east link, Eastern freeway upgrades as well as Doncaster Busway
construction. The north east link project will complete the construction of the ring road between
the Eastern Freeway as well as M80 ring road by successfully connecting the norther as well as
south eastern suburbs (Northeastlink 2019). On the other hand, it is found that the construction of
Eastern Freeway upgradation generally overhauls the eastern freeway with new technology for
providing the facility of 40% faster trips. In addition to this, it is found that the construction of
Doncaster Busway generally helps in properly launching a new Busway with proper dedicated
express along with the Eastern freeway towards the city. It is expected that the project of North
East Link in Melbourne will get completed by 2027 by utilizing budget of around $16.5 billion.
A.2 Overall budget of the project
After proper analysis, it is found that in order to undertake the project of “North East
Link in Melbourne”, it is quite necessary to complete the construction of the project within the
budget that is around $16.5 billion. The budget that is assumed for the construction purpose must
be found appropriate in completing the work of the project effectively within the expected time
as well as budget.
A.3 Social and economic rationale
It is found that the North East Link is one of the biggest road transport project that helps
in fixing the link in the network of Melbourne freeway. The utilization of North East Link will

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generally helpful in reducing congestion within the north east while maintaining local roads for
local trips. It is identified that the construction of North East Link will be helpful in slashing
traffic as well as travel times’ between Melbourne south east and north up to 30 minutes. The
additional lanes on the eastern freeway will generally helpful in eliminating some of
Melbourne’s worst bottleneck (Northeastlink 2019). In addition to this, the project is helpful in
improving public transport by building Melbourne’s first busway which further helps in
improving access as well as assists in upgrading the car parking at the Watsania station.
Moreover, the construction of North East Link in Melbourne will helpful in creating walking and
cycling connections and also assists in enhancing the growth of the economy by creating more
than 10000 jobs.
On the other hand, it is analyzed that the construction of North East Link will not be so
much successful in reducing congestion as the extension of both the freight as well as passenger
will generally provide both the combination of high capacity as well as speed for competing
between trucks and cars. It is found that rail extension to Rowville as well as Doncaster will
remain politically dead as the only body that is considered to be capable of properly reporting so
that the credible business get dead against the Victorian department of transport.
A.4 Key statistics
Scope and size
The construction of “North East Link” is considered as a large project that will be helpful
in providing the facility of road by reducing traffic congestion. The scope of the project mainly
includes:
 Construction of North east link

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 Upgradation of the eastern freeway upgradation
 Construction of Doncaster Busway
 Sash travel times between Melbourne north and south east
 Construction of interchange at the M80 ring road
 Development of dedicated busway with express lanes
Budget and estimated cost
It is assumed that budget of around 16.5 billion is required in order to construct the
North West link in Melbourne. The figure that is provided below generally showcases the
amount of budget that is needed in order to complete each of the project phase successfully.

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Figure 1: Budget for the construction of North East Link in Melbourne
(Source: Created by Author)
Time required for completing the project
It is identified that the construction of North East Link will get commenced by 2019 and
it is assumed that the work of construction will get completed by the year 2027. The figure that is
given below mainly focuses on the timeline of the project

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Figure 1: Gantt chart for the construction of North East Link in Melbourne
(Source: Created by Author)
Key construction elements or phases
The different construction phases that are required to be executed in order to complete the
construction of North East Link in Melbourne is mainly reflected with the help of the table that is
given below:

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WBS Task Name
0 North west link construction in Melbourne
1 Planning of the project
1.1 Analysis of project requirement
1.1.1 Requirement analysis
1.1.2 Analysis of project nature
1.2 Resource estimation
1.3 Estimation of time schedule
1.4 Budget estimation
1.5 Manpower estimation
1.6 Resource analysis
1.7 Milestone 1: Completion of project analysis
2 Initiation phase of the project
2.1 Fund procurement
2.2 Stakeholders appointment
2.3 Meetings arrangement
2.4 Arranging financial management
2.5 Appointment of workers
2.6 Preparation of blueprint
2.7 Procurement of land area
2.8 Releasing legal notice
2.9 Budget allocation

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2.10 Resource procurement
2.11 Division of time
2.12 Duty allocation
2.13 Analysis of project risk
2.14 Developing risk mitigation plan
2.15 Milestone 2: Completion of project initiation phase
3 Execution phase
3.1 Land preparation
3.2 Site works
3.3 Construction of North east link
3.4 Upgradation of eastern freeway upgradation
3.5 Doncaster Busway construction
3.6 Slash travel times between Melbourne north and south east
3.7 Providing the facility of walking and cycling
3.8 Road and footpath upgrade works
3.9 Victoria’s longest road tunnels
3.10
Interchanges at the M80 Ring Road, Grimshaw Street, Lower Plenty
Road, Manningham Road and Bulleen Road
3.11 Dedicated busway with express lanes
3.12 Testing and commissioning
3.13 Milestone 3:Completion of execution phase

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4 Closure phase
4.1 Sign off stakeholder
4.2 Review of post project
4.3 Milestone 5: Completion of closure phase
Environmental costs or benefits
It is found that the construction of North East Link is mainly committed to reduce the
impact on the communities as well as on the environment (Northeastlink 2019). Extensive
planning studies are generally undertaken in order to inform the state as well as federal
government for approvals. Moreover, it is found that the project will follow environment effect
statement, environment protection as well as biodiversity conversation act.
A.5. Funding mechanism
It is found that the money that is required for the construction of North east link in
Melbourne will generally be funded with the help of the government. The government take the
initiative of providing the fund so that the work can get completed on time.
A.6 Key stakeholders
The key stakeholders who are mainly involved with the construction of North East Link
in Melbourne are generally listed below:
 Project manager
 Sponsor
 Finance manager

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 Site supervisor
 Contractor
 Risk manager
 Project planner
 Sub-contactor
 Architect designer
 Human resource manager
 Civil engineers
 Construction team
 Workers
Part B: Risk analysis
According to McNeil, Frey and Embrechts (2015) risk analysis is one of the procedure
that helps in assessing the likelihood of an adverse event that occurs during the project. It is
found that both qualitative as well as quantitative analysis are mainly undertaken as per the
principle of PMBOK for determining the risks as well as challenges that are generally related
with the construction of North East Link in Melbourne. The table that is provided below
generally reflects on the risks and they are generally analyzed as per the risk level that is
identified in context to likelihood as well as the impact that the risk will generally create on the
progress of the project.
Risk Description Impact Probability Risk level
Stress and
degradation to
It is found that
due to the
Moderate Likely Medium

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the parts of
Yarra river
construction of
tunnels for the
North East link, it
is found that stress
as well as
degradation is
generally reflected
in the Yarra rivers
and well as in the
tributaries of
Yarra river
(Northeastlink
2019).
Expensive
project
It is found that
the North east link
project that was
mainly undertaken
is considered as
one of the
expensive project
as it generally has
embarked cost of
around $16.5
High Very likely High

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billion in order to
complete the
construction work
successfully (Ho
et al. 2018).
Lost or
diminished
access to
property
It is found that the
construction work
that is generally
undertaken will
mainly exhibit
access to various
residential
properties. It is
found that barriers
to access the
community will
generally include
congestion due to
construction of
traffic that will
further helpful in
avoiding usual
trips.
Moderate Very likely High

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Schedule
slippage
It is found that
due to some
political problems
in Melbourne, the
government faces
some issues in
initiating the
project work such
that the schedule
of the project does
not get delayed.
Moderate Likely Medium
Inexperienced
team members
It is found that if
the team members
who are mainly
involved with the
project are
inexperienced
then it mainly can
create number of
issues as well as
problems in
finishing the work
of the project
Moderate Unlikely Medium

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quite effectively
(Carvalho
and Rabechini
Junior 2015).
Furthermore, it
also creates
obstruction within
the progress of the
project.
Communicatio
n barriers
It is found that in
the absence of
proper
communication
medium, it is quite
difficult to
communicate with
the team members
which further
creates
obstruction for the
progress of the
project quite
effectively.
High Possible Medium

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Due to barriers in
communication,
the project team
members are
unable to
complete the work
of the project
within the
expected time and
budget (Kaiser et
al. 2015).
Improper
management
It is found that
due to improper
management of
project, the
project team
member generally
faces a lot of
issues and
challenges in
successfully
executing the
project quite
Moderate Possible Medium

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successfully. In
addition to this, it
is found that
improper
management
creates
obstruction and
can cause delay in
the project that
further can
increase the
budget of the
project quite
successfully.
Impact
Likelihood
Very
low
Low Moderate High Very
high
Rare
Unlikely Inexperience
d team
members
Possible Improper Communication

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management barriers
Likely Stress and
degradation
to the parts of
Yarra river
Schedule
slippage
Very likely Lost or
diminished
access to
property
Expensive
project
Part C: Risk mitigation plan
Risk mitigation planning is defined as one of the procedure that helps in developing
options as well as actions for enhancing the opportunities and for reducing threats in context to
project objectives. It is found that risk mitigation implementation is one of the procedure that
helps in mitigating actions. In order to undertake the risk mitigation action properly it is quite
necessary to monitor the risks that are identified as well as evaluated throughout the lifecycle of
the project (Lu et al. 2017). It is found that in order to mitigate the risks as well as challenges
that occur during the progress of North West link project in Melbourne, it is quite necessary to
develop proper risk mitigation plan. The risk mitigation plan that is mainly developed for the
project is generally reflected in the table below:
Risk Description Impact Probability Responsible
person
Mitigation
Stress and Due to the Moderate Likely Site It is quite

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degradation to
the parts of
Yarra river
North East
Link
construction,
stress as well
as degradation
is generally
reflected
within the
Yarra rivers as
well as within
the different
tributaries
(Paquin,
Gauthier and
Morin 2016).
supervisor necessary to
focus on the
stress on the
stress as well
as degradation
that occurs
within the parts
of the Yarra
rivers for
avoiding
environmental
challenges that
the project
creates.
Expensive
project
As the project
of North East
link that is
undertaken is
identified to be
very much
expensive and
as a result the
High Very likely Financial
manager
It is found that
in order to
resolve the
issues and
challenges that
are mainly
related with the
project

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PROJECT MANAGEMENT
chances of
occurring
financial issues
or project
obstruction
during the
project
progress is
quite high.
successfully
from the initial
stage. It is
found that it
further helps in
avoiding
various types
of financial
issues (Kivila,
Martinsuo and
Vuorinen
2017).
Lost or
diminished
access to
property
It is found that
problems like
congestion due
to traffic can
occur due to
losing
diminished
access to the
property. It is
quite necessary
to resolve the
Moderate Very likely Management With the help
of legal
agreement, it is
necessary to
give proper
access to land
so that the
project work
can be started
properly.

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issues and
challenges that
are associated
with access of
property.
Schedule
slippage
Due to
political issues
in Melbourne,
the
government
generally faces
a lot of issues
and problems
in completing
the initial
phase of the
project on time
and this further
creates
Schedule
slippage.
Moderate Likely Project
manager
It is quite
important to
track the
schedule of the
project
effectively on a
weekly basis
for keeping the
entire project
on track. This
further helps in
avoiding
slippage of
project
schedule (Ho
et al. 2018).
Inexperienced
team members
If the project
team members
Moderat
e
Unlikely Trainer It is necessary
to arrange

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are not
experienced
they faces lot
of issues and
challenges in
completing the
work of the
project. It is
further creates
obstruction
during the
progress of the
project
(Kerzner and
Kerzner 2017).
proper training
facility for the
team members
such that they
can be capable
of completing
the work
effectively
with the
project. It is
found that
training facility
will allow
them to
complete the
activities of the
project quite
efficiently.
Communicatio
n barriers
Due to the
absence of
proper
communicatio
n medium, the
High Possible HR manager In order to
resolve the
communication
related
barriers, it is

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PROJECT MANAGEMENT
project team
faces a lot of
issues in
communicatin
g with the
project team
that further
creates
problem in
progressing
with the
project.
necessary to
arrange proper
communication
strategy so that
the problems
associated with
communication
can be
resolved. In
addition to
this, it further
helps in
increasing
collaboration
within the
project team
(Carvalho and
Rabechini
Junior 2015).
Improper
management
Due to
improper
management,
the project
Moderate Possible Project
management
In order to
mitigate the
management
related issues

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team faces a
lot of issues
and problems
in managing
the project
properly that
further creates
an obstruction
during the
progress of the
project (Kaiser
et al. 2015).
and challenges,
it is quite
necessary to
implement
proper
management
strategies for
managing the
project work
effectively and
for finishing
the entire
project on
time.

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