ORCID Profile
0000-0003-0560-6784
Current Organisations
Corps of Engineers, Pakistan
,
National University of Sciences and Technology
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Publisher: American Society of Civil Engineers
Date: 08-08-2018
Publisher: American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE)
Date: 04-2017
Publisher: Emerald
Date: 28-02-2019
DOI: 10.1108/ECAM-01-2018-0016
Abstract: The purpose of this paper is to introduce a decision support aid for deciding an overseas construction project (OCP) using an adaptive neuro fuzzy inference system (ANFIS). This study presents an ANFIS approach as a decision support aid for assessment of OCPs. The processing data were derived from 110 simulation cases of OCPs. In total, 21 international factors observed from a Delphi survey were determined as assessment variables to examine the cases. The experts were involved to evaluate and judge whether the company should Go or Not Go for an OCP, based on the different parameter scenarios given. To measure the performance of the ANFIS model, root mean square error (RMSE) and coefficient of correlation ( R ) were employed. The result shows that optimum ANFIS model indicating RMSE and R scores adequately near between 0 and 1, respectively, was obtained from parameter set of network algorithm with two input membership functions, Gaussian type of membership function and hybrid optimization method. When the model tested to nine real OCPs data, the result indicates 88.89 percent accurate. The use of simulation cases as data set in development the model has several advantages. This technique can be replicated to generate other case scenarios which are not available publicly or limited in terms of quantity. This study evidences that the developed ANFIS model can predict the decision satisfactorily. Therefore, it can help companies’ management to make preliminary assessment of an OCP.
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 02-2020
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 10-2018
Publisher: American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE)
Date: 2020
Publisher: American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE)
Date: 06-2021
Publisher: Frontiers Media SA
Date: 10-12-2020
DOI: 10.3389/FPUBH.2020.573431
Abstract: The coronavirus disease (COVID-19) was first reported in China (Wuhan) at the end of 2019. It has rapidly spread over 216 countries, including the USA, UK, Europe, Russia, and many Asian countries. It has affected more than 4.5 million people, and around 0.3 million deaths have been reported globally. Many preventive measures have been adopted worldwide to mitigate its spread. The government of Pakistan has also taken many preventive measures to combat the COVID-19 outbreak, such as rapid response by governance, continuous monitoring of the pandemic spread in the affected areas, and integration of resources from multiple sectors, including health, education, defense, and media. According to global statistics, the number of COVID-19 cases in the country remained remarkably lower than the expected number for the first 169 days, as compared to other countries. A total of 286,674 confirmed cases, including 16,475 active, 6,139 deaths, and 264,060 (92%) recoveries were reported. The study finds that strict adherence to national policies, effective governance, and unity at the national level resulted in better outcomes. Hence, the preventive measures, rapid responses, and strategies adopted for combating the challenges could be adopted as a learning tool for other countries having similar work environments and financial constraints. This paper can help and guide governance ublic actions in response to the possible rebound of coronavirus this fall/winter.
Publisher: Informa UK Limited
Date: 28-01-2016
Publisher: American Society of Civil Engineers
Date: 03-11-2014
Publisher: MDPI AG
Date: 08-11-2016
Publisher: MDPI AG
Date: 29-10-2022
DOI: 10.3390/SU142114149
Abstract: The inadequate risk management of public–private partnership (PPP) projects is a principal cause of project distress or failure. This research seeks to identify and empirically validate measures of effective risk management (ERM) in the context of PPPs in a developing country, a subject that has received scant attention in the extant literature. The research is based on a comprehensive literature review, expert interviews and a questionnaire survey. Mean score ranking and factor analysis were employed to rank and group the identified measures, respectively. Tests were performed to determine the respondents’ agreement and establish the reliability and validity of the survey instrument. Analysis results indicate that all identified measures are important, are distributed over the entire project’s life cycle and exhibit a multi-organizational focus. The most significant measures focus on PPP-specific artifacts and procurement activities that are vital for ERM. Factor analysis established six critical underlying dimensions for the ERM of PPP projects. The extracted factors generally acknowledge the need for expert public- and private-sector project stakeholders with mature organizational structures, business processes and relevant experience to successfully handle and deliver PPP projects. Furthermore, a comprehensive PPP policy and sound legal and regulatory frameworks are essential for supporting the ERM of PPP projects. The findings will enable a better understanding of factors that influence the quality and outcomes of risk management efforts and promote sustainable infrastructure development via PPPs, where the success of a project strongly relies on positively managing a project’s risks in the economic and the social domains.
Publisher: Hindawi Limited
Date: 10-2020
DOI: 10.1155/2020/8866071
Abstract: During the outbreak of an epidemic, it becomes significantly essential to monitor the effects of containment measures and forecast the outbreak, including the epidemic peak. Many countries have either implemented strict lockdown to counter the spread of coronavirus disease or taken necessary preventive measures across the world to reduce the outbreak of this epidemic war. Several epidemic models have been presented across the world to examine the effects of public health-related strategies on mitigating the spread of current infectious disease, yet no reputable model has been presented for Pakistan as well as other South-Asian developing countries as per the authors’ knowledge. In this research, an actual coronavirus prediction in Pakistan is presented, which may guide the decision-makers as to how this pandemic has spread across the country and how it can be controlled. Furthermore, in the absence of targeted medicines, the analysis helps to develop a precise plan for the eradication of the outbreak by adopting the calculated steps at the right time. The mathematical phenomenological models have been adopted in this study to predict, project, and simulate the overall affected cases reflected due to the recent outbreak in Pakistan. These models predict the expected growth, and the estimated results are almost well matched with the real cases. Through the calibration of parameters and analyzing the current situation, forecast for the appearance of new cases in Pakistan is reported till the end of this year. The constant level of number of patients and time to reach specific levels are also reported through the simulations. The drastic conditions are also discussed which may occur if all the preventive restraints are removed. This research quantitatively describes the significant characteristics of the spread of corona cases. It acknowledges and provides an understanding of a short-term and long-term transmission of coronavirus outbreak in the country as three evolutionary phases. Therefore, this research provides a pathway to cope with the emerging threat of a severe outbreak in developing and nondeveloping countries.
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 09-2019
Publisher: Pontificia Universidad Catolica de Chile
Date: 2019
Publisher: MDPI AG
Date: 11-05-2021
DOI: 10.3390/SU13105375
Abstract: The construction industry in Hong Kong has adopted relational contracting (RC) as a way forward to address frequent conflicts in construction projects and to promote sustainable development. Despite this effort, adversarial behavior of project team members is still prevalent, stemming from conflicting agendas, which hinders the successful implementation of RC. There is a need to improve collaborative attitudes and behavior among project team members in RC projects, but there is still a lack of understanding of factors that can promote this inter-organizational collaboration. Therefore, using the theory of planned behavior, this research investigates factors that form relational attitudes, collaborative intentions, and collaborative behavior, and their relationships in RC projects in Hong Kong. Quantitative data were collected from experienced practitioners in RC projects and were analyzed using structural equation modeling (SEM). The results reveal that senior management commitment and relational norms are needed to nurture relational attitudes, which in turn influence the development of collaborative intentions. These intentions can eventually promote collaborative behavior, which is expressed by teamwork, affective trust, and extra-role behavior (striving beyond roles to maintain collaboration). The findings advance knowledge and contribute to practice by providing a structured process to nurture collaboration in RC projects for sustainable development.
Publisher: Golden Light Publishing
Date: 30-06-2020
Publisher: Emerald
Date: 25-03-2021
DOI: 10.1108/ECAM-11-2020-0989
Abstract: Earned Value Management (EVM) is widely used as a project performance measurement and forecasting technique. Nonetheless, it has not been fully explored in Pakistani construction industry where conventional progress reporting methodology (CPRM) is being followed having certain confines. It reports only the financial progress of a project, expresses feeble association between the duration and cost of activities, and forecasts flawed schedule and completion cost. This research implements EVM on under-construction building projects in Pakistan, and compares its upshots with the projects' actual records and with the outcomes of CPRM. To assess the implementation of EVM on building projects, a set of specific criteria was established. Work Breakdown Structure, Organization Breakdown Structure and Control Points were established. The study has compared the EVM metrics with CPRM outcomes on three under-study building projects, and has deliberated on their mutual differences as well as their relationship with actual cost and schedule performance. Monthly figures of actual spending and completed activities were periodically recorded and compared with planned values for status indication. The graphs were generated to observe the correlation between the results of EVM and CPRM. The data was then extrapolated to forecast the schedule and cost values at completion. The study discovered that trends of EVM in quantifying the project's cost and schedule performance were strongly correlated and were closer to the actual progress. It has also verified the EVM's soundness in forecasting the cost and schedule, required for project's completion. Contrarily, CPRM metrics could not precisely visualize the current and future, cost and schedule performance. The case study concludes that EVM's incorporation in progress reporting regime can revolutionize the assessment procedures in Pakistan by rightly indicating the project's current status as well as visualizing the future performance. The study's methodology can also be extrapolated in other countries having similar work environment and economic conditions.
Publisher: Canadian Science Publishing
Date: 09-2019
Abstract: Appropriate risk allocation and sharing are significant critical success factors for public-private partnership projects, but evidence suggests that poor risk allocation practices prevail. This signifies the need to develop a robust model for assisting stakeholders in risk allocation decision-making. A non-additive fuzzy integral based multiple attribute risk allocation decision approach is proposed to effectively aggregate each stakeholder’s risk management capability assessment on accepted risk allocation principles that are derived from qualitative judgements and experience based knowledge of experts. Data collected from privately financed and developed power and transport infrastructure projects in Pakistan are used to demonstrate and validate the model for key risk factors that exhibit variable risk allocation preferences. Comparison of results with an additive aggregation approach confirms suitability of the adopted methodology as it performs better when modelling risk allocation preferences of experts due to its ability to handle interdependencies in the risk allocation criteria. Apparently, the allocation and sharing of key risks is significantly influenced by market, sector and project contexts.
Publisher: University of Technology, Sydney (UTS)
Date: 12-12-2018
Abstract: Although extensive research has been carried out on international construction, scant study in this domain exists which has paid attention to developing economies. The present study empirically investigates the above context from the perspective of one of the largest developing nations, Indonesia. Focus of this study is Indonesian contractors’ motivations to enter foreign marketplaces. An empirical approach integrating quantitative and qualitative techniques was adopted to address the research question. The primary data were collected through questionnaires distributed to large Indonesian contractors. Descriptive statistical method and relative importance index (RII) were employed for data analysis. In the discussion the survey results were triangulated with the interview findings. The results clarify that the reason to pursue overseas projects was motivated by multiple-motivations rather than a single one. The major motivations were to increase profitability, to benefit competitive advantage, to expand business, to capitalize on globalization/free trade regions, to respond to project sponsor’s invitation and to gain international experience. An implication of these findings is that the existing condition of the companies should be taken into consideration when measuring companies’ motivation levels in pursuing overseas projects.
Publisher: MDPI AG
Date: 15-11-2021
DOI: 10.3390/SU132212583
Abstract: Water scarcity has become a major problem for many countries, resulting in declining water supply and creating a need to find alternative solutions. One potential solution is rainwater harvesting (RwH), which allows rainwater to be stored for human needs. This study develops an RwH assessment system through building information modeling (BIM). For this purpose, a hydrological study of Cfa-type climate cities is conducted with the ex le of Islamabad, Pakistan. The monthly rainfall data of three sites were assessed to determine the volume of the accumulated rainwater and its potential to meet human needs. The average number of people living in a house is taken as the household number. Household number or of the number of employees working at a small enterprise, roofing material, and rooftop area are used as the key parameters for pertinent assessment in the BIM. The data simulated by BIM highlight the RwH potential using five people per house as the occupancy and a 90 m2 rooftop area for residential buildings or small enterprises as parameters. The results show that the selected sites can collect as much as 8,190 L/yr of rainwater (48 L erson/day) to 103,300 L/yr of rainwater (56 L erson/day). This much water is enough to fulfill the daily demands of up to five people. Therefore, it is established that the study area has an RwH potential that is able to meet the expected demands. This study presents a baseline approach for RwH to address water scarcity issues for residential buildings and factories of the future.
Publisher: International Journal of Technology
Date: 25-01-2019
Publisher: American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE)
Date: 12-2018
Publisher: American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE)
Date: 06-2017
Publisher: MDPI AG
Date: 21-03-2022
DOI: 10.3390/ARCHITECTURE2010010
Abstract: The identification of significant areas impacting safety performance has always been a key concern for construction management researchers. This paper aims to examine the ersified influence of sensitive sub-categories of demographic variables on construction safety climate (SC). The data relating to fourteen demographic variables and twenty-four formerly validated SC statements were collected from forty-one under-construction high-rise buildings in Pakistan. The variances in respondents’ distribution among various sub-categories of demographic variables, and influence of each sub-category of demographic variables on SC statements were analyzed using cross-tabulation, Spearman’s rho correlation coefficients, independent s le Kruskal-Wallis and Mann-Whitney U tests. The study comprehends that the employees in the age group of 20 years or below and between 41 and 50 years, engaged for over 48 h per week, having 4 dependent family members, primary education, and/or lesser working experience, attained a comparatively lower SC level. Likewise, frontline workers and foremen are observed to be employed for extended working hours, causing them fatigue. It also discovers that safety alertness level steadily declines once employees get acquainted with their tasks, thus necessitating to arrange periodic refresher safety training sessions. The study recommends concentrating on frontline workers and foremen who are less educated and fall in the age group of 41–50 years by resolving their safety concerns and providing them adequate safety training, promptly replacing their defective equipment, improving worksite conditions, and counselling them about the significance of wearing PPE and adhering to all the safety rules regardless of the difficulty in their enactment. A joint focus on the heightened personal attributes of employees and risky SC statements is expected to enhance safety performance on under-construction building projects. Moreover, the study’s results can be cautiously generalized and applied to other countries having similar work environment.
Publisher: American Society of Civil Engineers
Date: 29-08-2019
Publisher: MDPI AG
Date: 28-03-2017
Publisher: Hindawi Limited
Date: 12-10-2020
DOI: 10.1155/2020/8820021
Abstract: This paper examines how the latest mega plan and the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) will impact the geopolitics of energy and infrastructural development. With a massive change in the supply and demand of global energy and its infrastructure, the transition of international energy order is in the making. While the US is going towards a more isolationist path from its traditional superpower role, there are rising economies such as China, India, Japan, and Russia which are undoubtedly playing a vital role in the geopolitical stage and the other development endeavors. Several regions such as Central Asia, the Arctic, Eastern Mediterranean, and the South China Sea are offering substantial natural gas and oil reserves and drawing global attention to develop energy cooperation. This situation is profoundly influencing the transition of energy order. In this transition, BRI is supposed to play an important role. As a mega development strategy with a robust geostrategic dimension, it purposes to advocate interconnectivity collaboration in framework, exchange, and advancement among the partaking nations. This super arrangement offers a lot of ventures, foundation developments, and modern reconciliation in the energy sector. The country is trying to establish a multilateral platform for endorsing and shielding energy cooperation under BRI. This paper, therefore, attempts to observe how this mega plan will contribute to reshaping the existing energy order as well as the geopolitics of energy with motivation on multifaceted energy collaboration.
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 2015
Publisher: IOP Publishing
Date: 02-2018
Publisher: Emerald
Date: 15-05-2017
DOI: 10.1108/ECAM-01-2016-0027
Abstract: The highest number of accidents in proportion to the employment rate is found in construction industry among all industries in Pakistan. The purpose of this paper is to identify and prioritize the contributory factors of accident causation that can significantly reduce the rate of accident in the construction industry. In total, 32 contributory factors of accident causation were identified through a triangulation strategy comprising eight face-to-face semi-structured interviews with the academic and industry experts coupled with a comprehensive literature review. Delphi survey was then conducted among the four respondent groups (clients, contractors, safety official and academia) to prioritize these factors. A consensus was achieved among the respondent groups after conducting two rounds of Delphi survey. Finally, the results were validated using the technique of inter-rater agreement (IRA) analysis. All the shortlisted accident causation factors were graded as “important” to “extremely important”. Moreover, a “moderate” to “strong level” agreement was developed among the respondent groups. The three most significant factors were highlighted as “poor enforcement of safety rules and regulations by the Government agencies”, “insufficient allocation of safety budget and safety incentives by the client”, and “insufficient provision of safety training and resources by the contractor”. The findings will help the key stakeholders to prioritize their energies towards achieving zero accident in the construction industry. Moreover, addition of academic experts as one of the respondent groups will enhance the linkages between the academia and the industry practitioners. Besides highlighting the underlying causes of construction accidents in Pakistan, a detailed methodology is presented in this study for the analysis and validation of the Delphi survey data, which can be extrapolated in other regions and industries for elements prioritization. The findings of the study can also be generalized for other developing countries having similar work environment. The results validation through the use of IRA analysis is an addition to the field of construction safety research. The study also authenticates the applicability of IRA analysis to assess the agreement level among the respondents.
Publisher: WORLD SCIENTIFIC
Date: 05-2019
Publisher: Informa UK Limited
Date: 05-05-2017
Publisher: Informa UK Limited
Date: 28-10-2019
Publisher: University of Technology, Sydney (UTS)
Date: 13-06-2016
Abstract: This paper presents the latest research development in international construction project (ICP) domain from 1995 to 2014 as revealed in the construction management related journals. A systematic document retrieval method was employed to collect relevant articles. The identified papers were analyzed by using bibliometric analysis comprising the investigation of the number of publication, the main originators of the research contributions, their affiliations, the most cited papers, and the sources of research funding as well as the research methods used. Ninety-eight relevant articles obtained from 12 major journals associated with construction management studies were successfully assessed. The results show an upward trend with some fluctuations during the period and the bibliometric information of ICP studies was successfully presented.
Location: Pakistan
No related grants have been discovered for Hafiz Zahoor.