Document Type : Research Note
Authors
1
Dept. of Civil Engineering\r\nIslamic Azad Universi&z
2
School of Architecture and urban\r\nShahid Behesht&zw
3
Marine Engineering \r\nUniversity of Geneva
Abstract
Time is an extremely important issue in construction. Together with cost and quality, it is a primary objective of project management, and a major criterion by which the success of a project is judged. In practice, projects are required to be completed by a certain date, and, in the case of commercial projects, this usually means as soon as possible. Time is also of fundamental importance to the contractor in that he must assess his performance capabilities and resources in order to carry out and complete the work within a given time. Whilst both the employer and the contractor would prefer the certainty of a fixed completion date, delays are an inevitable part of the construction process. With regard to the importance of time for project parties, most construction contracts include provisions for delay to oblige the responsible party to pay damages. Contractors would normally want to be paid as much as possible, and for as little risk as possible. Conversely, owners will want to pay as little and as late as possible, and possibly, and/or forcibly, transfer all risk, expense and cost to the contractor. In the event of one of the party incurring those costs, he will certainly look for reimbursement from the other party. For years, there have been a number of construction disputes involving delay in construction projects. So, most standard-form international construction contracts currently in use contain detailed provisions, under which the contractor can claim against the employer for any losses suffered if the work is disrupted due to certain specified causes. From the viewpoint of indemnifying damages, Iranian General Conditions of Contracts have shortcomings, and the risks of increasing costs for delays are not apportioned fairly in its provisions. For renovation, indemnifying damage provisions, and a fair apportioning of incurring costs, a comparative comparison between the general conditions in Iran and international conditions are used in this article. The general purpose of this paper is to discuss and compare conditions of contract provisions for recovering delay damages in Iran and international standards (JCT, ICE and FIDIC). In particular, the paper focuses on the shortcomings of the Iranian General Conditions of Contracts, regarding the recovery of delay damages. The result of research shows that reconsideration of the indemnifying contractor and owner damage provisions of Iranian General Conditions of Contracts is necessary. One of the most important results of the research is the high level risk of Iranian General Conditions of Contracts in the case of owner delays, since few events for recovery of owner damage are predicted in the Iranian General Conditions of Contracts. Also, no mechanism for claiming recovery of owner damage from the contractor is predicted in the Iranian General Conditions of Contracts.
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