MBA643: Risk Assessment Analysis of Sydney Metro Northwest Project

This report provides a comprehensive risk assessment analysis of the Sydney Metro Northwest project, focusing on identifying and mitigating potential risks. The report begins with an introduction and project overview, detailing the project's objectives, budget, socio-economic rationale, and key aspects, including scope, time, and environmental considerations. It also outlines the stakeholders involved. The core of the report is the risk analysis, which uses both qualitative and quantitative methods to assess risks associated with construction, such as health issues during tunnelling, machinery impacts, and decision-making processes. A detailed risk register is presented, outlining potential risks, their probability, impact, risk scores, and proposed mitigation actions. Finally, the report concludes with a risk mitigation plan, offering strategies to address the identified risks through proper scheduling, budget management, and stakeholder coordination. The report aims to provide a structured approach to risk management within the context of a large-scale construction project.

RISK ASSESSMENT ANALYSIS
Risk Assessment Analysis
Name of the student:
Name of the university:
Author Note:

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Abstract
This assignment deals with the construction of the Sydney Metro North West project, which
aims to deliver better transportation amenities to the rail users of Sydney. The assignment
will put a clear reflection on the identification of the risks as well as mitigation of theme
regarding the development of the project. This assignment also deals with the factors that can
excite the emergence of risks in this type of project as well as provide preventive measures
regarding the mitigation of the risks.

2RISK ASSESSMENT ANALYSIS
Table of Contents
1. Introduction............................................................................................................................3
2. Overview of the project..........................................................................................................3
2.1 Overall budget of the project............................................................................................4
2.2 Socio-economic rationale for the project.........................................................................4
2.3 Important aspect of the project.........................................................................................5
2.4 Stakeholders associated with the project..........................................................................6
3. Analysis of Risk.....................................................................................................................7
4. Plan for Risk Mitigation.........................................................................................................9
5. Conclusion............................................................................................................................11
References................................................................................................................................12

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1. Introduction
The chief aspect of the assignment focuses to carry out an analysis of the risks
associated with the Sydney Metro Northwest project. This project focuses on the production
of the eight improved and enhanced railway stations in the area of North West, Sydney
(Cunningham and Strong, 2017). This project also deals with the delivery of the production
of the 4000 new parking slots at the growing part of the North West, Sydney. The objectives
regarding this project can be determined as follows:
 New railway stations to be built.
 4000 new parking zones for the commuters.
 Train availability at every 4 minutes that means 15 trains to run in an hour.
 Customers should be provided with the facility that they won’t need a timetable.
They will just visit the station and travel on the trains.
2. Project Overview
The North West Sydney Metro project focuses on the development of new stations
that will possibly deliver a reliable service regarding the public transport to an area where
there are more numbers of household vehicles present. This is to be in the consideration of
the project management committee that the facility should be made so reliable that the
population that are shifting in the area of North West Sydney could be effectively facilitated
(Och et al., 2017). The project will be very helpful to the population as well as the daily
commuter that travel a long distance within the country. The project is aligned around the
development of the 16 construction sites. The project involves the building of tunnels,
stations, elevated sky trains as well as the parking zones for the daily commuters, which is
4000 in number. This project also focuses on the environmental as well as socio-economic
outcomes (McWilliam and Cutcliffe, 2018). The organization associated with the

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development of the project also focuses on the sustainable performance of the constructed
stations.
2.1 Overall budget for the project
The complete budget for the North West Sydney Metro project may be stated taking
all the factors in consideration related to the construction of the stations, the construction of
the parking zones. In this context, the budget that is sanctioned for the development of the
North West Sydney Metro project is stated approximately as $500 million. However,
maintenance of the project is not considered in this budget, but the management team had
also allocated some budget for carrying out the maintenance of the project.
2.2 Socio-economic rationale for the project
The aspect of the social rationale may be stated as the fact that the facilities by which
the commuters will be facilitated with. This can be explained with the fact that the project
management team is trying to provide the commuters with the facility of travelling easy as
well as in a less time those are residing at the parts of Northwest, Sydney (Cutcliffe and
McWilliam, 2017). The society will be very much facilitated by these type of rail tracks as it
will help them to travel form one part of the country to another in a very less time with
respect to the time taken by the commuters to travel using the vehicles.
The economic rationale is a bit difficult to explain as this project includes a lot of
budget to carry on with the construction. However, keeping in the consideration of the social
benefits it can be explained that the budget is a mere factor concerning the effective facilities,
which can be availed by the commuters (Khan and Lauria, 2018). Moreover, the economic
rationale is also dependant on the factors of maintenance once the project is completed.

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2.3 Important aspect of the project
Scope: The scope of the project is to provide an effective as well as enhanced level of
shape in relation to the growth of the area of Sydney in future. With the co-operation of the
NSW Government as well as the Contractors associated for the project, the metro
commutation of Sydney aims to deliver the comfort of commutation to the people availing
the services (Gharehbaghi and Sagoo, 2016). This project is not only focusing on the
investment in the infrastructure of the construction but also considers a broad approach that
are related to the environment as well as provides many facilities to the society.
Time: The construction time of this sustainable project is stated approximately around
6 years. As from the report of North West Sydney Metro project, the construction started by
late 2013 and the services are to be started from the year of 2019.
Phases of Key construction: The key construction stages regarding the development
procedure of the North West Sydney Metro project may be divided into various parts
(McIlroy, 2018). These can be described as the stage of the sky train construction, the
construction of the tunnels, the construction of the stations as well as of the parking zones.
Environmental Costs or Benefits: The development of the North West Sydney Metro
project provides a great level of sustainability regarding the environmental aspects of the
project both among the health of the commuters as well as of the well-being of the workforce
and community associated with the project. More than 98% of the total demolished as well as
constructional wastes are recycled in the Sydney Metro Northwest project (Legaspi, Hensher
and Wang, 2015). Moreover, the cost regarding the electricity to run the project as well as the
execution of the project is carried out with the help of the 1.1 megawatt solar arrays and the
natural resources are not at all used by the project as an electrical energy resource. This
project moreover had an important vision in the environmental aspect of the society, which

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lead them to use 100% of timber in the complete the construction procedure of the project.
These timbers are sourced ethically as well as reused or recycled.
Funding Mechanisms: The project will be making money by the fare that the
commuters will provide for travelling in the metro rails (Birdsall, 2015). This will gain the
total investment related with the construction of the North West Sydney Metro project.
2.4 Stakeholders of the project
Image: Stakeholder map
Source: Created by Author

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The above figure provides a clear analysis of the various stakeholders associated with
North West Sydney Metro project.
3. Analysis of Risks
According to PMBOK the risk assessment analysis of the project, can be done
following two methods that are likely to be qualitative as well as the quantitative risks.
However, the project risk management can be stated in terms of 7 processes.
1. Risk Management Plan
2. Risk Identification
3. Performance of the Qualitative Risk Analysis
4. Performance of the Quantitative Risk Analysis
5. Risk Response Planning
6. Implementation of the Risk Responses
7. Monitoring of the risks
The Qualitative Risk Assessment of the project deals with the assumption of the risks, the
risk register as well as the stakeholder register related to this project (Och et al., 2018). The
environmental factors related to the construction procedure is also considered under the factor
of the Qualitative Risk Assessment. The Quantitative Risk Assessment regarding the North
West Sydney Metro project deals with the project estimates, the forecasts of the cost
necessary for the project, the requirements of the resources, the risk register as well as the
risk report associated with this project.
As this project, deals mainly with construction there are many risks that are associated
with it (Pollio et al., 2018). This section deals with the risk assessment in the sectors of health
issues while tunnelling, the impact of the machinery on the workers, the overall construction
procedure as well as the decisions based on the arise of the emergencies that can occur while

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the project is in process. The process of the project execution is thoroughly processed
keeping an added track on the risks that can emerge in this type of project. This also provides
a clear assessment of the risks that can emerge in the strategies related to the difference in the
decisions between the various stakeholders (Gharehbaghi and Farnes, 2018). The explanation
of the above stated risks can be summarized in a risk register, which is provided below:

0RISK ASSESSMENT ANALYSIS
Sl.
No
Risk Description Probability
High 0.25
Low 0.75
Medium 0.5
Impact
High 2.5
Low 7.5
Medium 5
Risk Score Risk Owner Action for Mitigation Contingent Action
1 The manager of the
project sometimes will
be unable to complete
the arrangement as well
as planning activities
Medium High 1.25 Project Manager Decisions must be taken prior to the
execution.
Extra time must be allocated by
the project manager separately
2 The sufficiency of the
budget
High High 0.625 The manager as
well as the
sponsor of the
project, The
NSW
Government
The schedule of all the activities
must be done in such such a manner
that the budget is sufficient for the
proper execution of the project.
The appropriate budget must be
set regarding the schedule of
the project.
3 Performance risks Medium Medium 2.5 Project Manager The project execution must be
carried out in accordance with the
performance so that the execution of
the process is done in a smooth
manner.
The proper execution decision
is to be carried out by the
director of the project.
4 Management of the
various functions
Low Medium 3.75 Project Manager This responsibility for the
management is done by the project
manager.
This should be properly
identified within the project.
5 The Legal issues related
with the project.
Medium Medium 3.75 Legal team,
Project Manager
These are to be maintained by the
project manager via conducting
meetings with the legal teams.
There should be proactive
dedication from the legal teams
to mitigate these risks.
Image: Risk Register
Source: Created by Author

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4. Risk Mitigation Plan
The risk alleviation plan is defined as the strategy that are to be considered for the
development of the North West Sydney Metro project. This construction procedure deals
with the risks that can be associated in different sectors. These sectors are related to the fields
of the health issues of the workers, the equipment related with the construction procedure, the
failure in the contract regarding the client as well as the project manager, the decision
mismatch between the clients, the project handling team as well as the employees working in
the project (Marsh, Walters and Silberstein, 2018). The procedures that should be followed
by the project management team to overcome these risks are stated below:
Proper scheduling methodology: This risk needs to be assessed by the manager regarding the
scheduling of the project. If the project is properly scheduled before its initiation then it is
considered that the execution of the overall project will be performed in an effective manner
(Och et al., 2018). The scheduling of the project needs an efficient skilful as well as
knowledgeable project manager. This type of manager can be helpful in mitigating this risks.
Budget sufficiency: This sector of risk deals with the project budget plan as well as the
costing that is needed for the project’s efficient execution. This risk can be mitigated by the
efficient management interaction within the various stakeholders that are accompanying the
project development (Luong and Xia, 2016). The sufficient budget is to be decided in
accordance with the client that is NSW Government as well as the project management team
that are dealing with the execution of the project.
Performance or operational risks: These are allied with the performance of the project team
as well as the human resource department that are connected with the project management
procedure. This can hamper the proper execution of the project as the poor performance of
the stakeholders can put a negative effect in the delivery of the project (Mohsen, 2017). This

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can be mitigated with the proper selection of a team that will be associated with the job in
keeping a track of the proper selection of the procedures as well as meeting up with all the
necessary requirements that can enhance the proper delivery of the project.
Management of the overall functions: This can be said as the overall management risks that
can occur in an organization. This is done by carrying out the maintenance of the whole
project while it is under execution as well as when it is completed (Rothwell et al., 2016).
This type of risks are to be identified by the project manager as well as from the client side of
the project so that in case of any emergency the proper mitigation technique can be followed
regarding the mitigation of the risks.
The legal issues: These risks are allied with the legal documentation regarding the North
West Sydney Metro project. As this project is a large construction project, there are many
legal scenarios associated with it, such as the procedure of the sanctioning of the plans
regarding the construction of the tunnels as well as the legal procedures that are to be
followed regarding the construction of the station and the parking zones (Kwok and Tan,
2016). This includes the land acquisition for the execution of the construction procedure. This
issue are necessarily to be solved from the client side that means the NSW Government
regarding this project.
Thus, it can be considered that the above stated risks are identified while assessing the
whole execution of the project. In this context, the different risk managing strategies or the
risk mitigation procedures are provided for the mitigation of these risks. The mitigation of the
risks can be helpful in the proper execution of the project.
5. Conclusion
Thus from the above assignment it is clear that this project is a large construction
project that aims to facilitate the commuters of these area of the country with an effective

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transport facility. This project also have a large amount of budget allied with the project
execution. Thus, there are certain emergence of risks while development of the project is
under process.
The identification of these risks is an important process that is to be carried out by the
project manager as well as the project team. Henceforth the mitigation of these risks are
necessary for the effectiveness of the project. Therefore, an enhanced knowledgeable as well
as and skilful manager is to be appointed by the NSW Government who can efficiently
identify the risks as well as mitigate them in real time basis. The authority of the decision-
making as well as the stakeholder budget is also an important sector in which the project
manager has to focus in. Thus, it is concluded that the North West Sydney Metro project will
put a positive impact in the transport facility of Australia and the commuters will be
facilitated with great benefits while availing this facility in near future.

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References
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Legaspi, J., Hensher, D. and Wang, B., 2015. Estimating the wider economic benefits of
transport investments: The case of the Sydney North West Rail Link project. Case Studies on
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