The Conceptual Framework of the Government-Sponsored Rural Road Improvement Project Evaluation and Selection

To take advantage from locating in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) mainland region, the Thai government has established a policy of being logistics and transportation hub. The policy has therefore challenged the Department of Rural Roads (DRR) and particularly the Bureau of Rural Roads (BRR) 11, 12, and 14 undertaking responsibility of all rural roads in the south part of Thailand. The BRR strategic plan and implementation have been demanded to reform. This research aimed to create the conceptual framework of route project improvement execution plan for BRRs’ decision-making on project investment prioritization.  The focus group interview method was applied to gather factors influencing transportation investment projects in order to develop the criteria of route project improvement prioritization. In addition, the score level of each criteria was also collected through this method. Then, to rank the important criteria, the questionnaire was developed to gain the data of pairwise comparison and the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) method was applied to analyze the data. The results showed that the framework was suitable for the BRRs’ long term route project improvement execution plan while the instant application was appropriated for the BRRs’ short term plan.To take advantage from locating in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) mainland region, the Thai government has established a policy of being logistics and transportation hub. The policy has, therefore, challenged the Department of Rural Roads (DRR) and particularly the Bureau of Rural Roads (BRR) 11, 12, and 14 undertaking responsibility for all rural roads in the south part of Thailand. The BRR strategic plan and implementation have been demanded to reform. This research aimed to create the conceptual framework of route project improvement execution plan for BRRs’ decision-making on project investment prioritization.  The focus group interview method was applied to gather factors influencing transportation investment projects in order to develop the criteria of route project improvement prioritization. In addition, the score level of each criterion was also collected through this method. Then, to rank the important criteria, the questionnaire was developed to gain the data of pairwise comparison and the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) method was applied to analyze the data. The results showed that the framework was suitable for the BRRs’ long-term route project improvement execution plan while the instant application was appropriated for the BRRs’ short-term plan

The Integrated Appraisal Framework of Rural Road Improvement Projects

The government policy for Thailand to be a logistics and transportation hub presents challenges to the Department of Rural Roads (DRR). The Bureau of Rural Roads (BRR) 11, 12, and 14 as the subsidiaries of the DRR have been enforced to reform their methods of appraising rural road improvement projects.  Multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) was first developed but was found to be inappropriate within the fiscal constraints since it was not based on monetary terms. This paper explores the DRR’s attempts to overcome this problem. The DRR conducts a Benefit-Cost Analysis (BCA) to filter the improvement projects prioritized under the MCDM approach. While calculation is not a problem under BCA, the method cannot be readily adapted to incorporate all relevant parameters particularly those relating to the social benefits of road improvement projects. These parameters are important in the Thai context and compatible with the characteristics of rural roads. The findings reported demonstrate that the incorporation of factors taken into account in MCDM but overlooked in traditional BCA is currently impracticable in view of the lack information and difficulty of expressing those parameters in monetary terms. The paper discusses supplementing the DRR’s improvement project appraisal process by BCA methods thus enhancing the effective and transparent allocation of the DRR’s budget, while simultaneously providing regional benefits

A Study on the Protection Approaches of Sulphate and Chloride Solutions Affecting on Coastal Reinforced Concrete Sub-Structures by Using Analytic Hierarchy Process and Simple Additive Weighting

อิทธิพลของสารละลายซัลเฟตและคลอไรด์ในน้ำทะเลส่งผลให้เกิดความเสียหายต่อโครงสร้างคอนกรีตเสริมเหล็ก (ค.ส.ล.) ใต้ดินชายฝั่งทะเลเป็นอย่างมาก งานวิจัยนี้จึงมีวัตถุประสงค์เพื่อศึกษาเกณฑ์ที่ใช้ในการคัดเลือกวัสดุก่อสร้างด้วยกระบวนการตัดสินใจแบบวิเคราะห์เชิงลำดับชั้น และวัสดุก่อสร้างที่เหมาะสมต่อการนำไปใช้งานภายใต้เกณฑ์ดังกล่าวด้วยวิธีการรวมแบบถ่วงน้ำหนักอย่างง่าย เพื่อหาแนวทางการป้องกันความเสียหาย โดยการทบทวนวรรณกรรม เก็บข้อมูลเบื้องต้นจากกรณีศึกษา แล้วทำการวิเคราะห์เนื้อหา จากนั้นให้ผู้เชี่ยวชาญ 5 ท่าน ที่มีประสบการณ์วิศวกรรมชายฝั่งมากกว่า 10 ปี ตรวจสอบความเที่ยงตรง และทำการวิเคราะห์ข้อมูลด้วยกระบวนการตัดสินใจแบบวิเคราะห์เชิงลำดับชั้นพบว่า เกณฑ์ที่พิจารณาคัดเลือกวัสดุ ตามลำดับความสำคัญมี 5 เกณฑ์ คือ ความทนทาน ต้นทุนในการก่อสร้างและบำรุงรักษา ระยะเวลาที่ใช้ในการก่อสร้าง ความยากง่ายในการทำงาน และความยากง่ายในการจัดหาวัสดุ และจากการสำรวจความคิดเห็นเชิงประสบการณ์จากผู้ทำงาน 50 ท่าน ในการเลือกใช้วัสดุที่เหมาะสมตามเกณฑ์ เพื่อวิเคราะห์ด้วยวิธีการรวมแบบถ่วงน้ำหนักอย่างง่ายพบว่า วัสดุที่เหมาะสมต่อการนำไปใช้ใน 3 ลำดับแรก คือ มารีนคอนกรีต รองลงมาคือ คอนกรีตประเภทที่ 5 ทนซัลเฟตสูง และคอนกรีตผสมกันซึมSulphate and Chloride concentrations in seawater have a significant impact on corrosion of steelreinforced concrete substructures located in coastal environments. This research aims to find the criteria for selecting materials in a construction project using the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP). Finding out the appropriate construction materials was conducted through Simple Additive Weighting (SAW) based on the criteria. Rigorous literature review coupled with preliminary data collection from case studies were carried out in order to perform content analysis. Then, five experts possessing more than 10 years of coastal engineering experience were asked to do content validation and Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP). Weight assessment through prioritizations exposed 5 criteria for selecting the construction materials, consisting of material durability, construction and maintenance costs, construction or installation time, project complexity, and challenges in material procurement. After that, 50 participants with experience in coastal engineering were asked to complete an experience survey to identify factors affecting the selection of appropriate construction materials. By using simple Additive Weighting (SAW), the 3 prioritized list of appropriate materials were identified as marine concrete, sulphate resistant concrete and waterproof concrete