TIME

Muskrat Falls Project

The time management is key factor in the project management and is a vital cog too. The
scientific researches in the University of Stanford reveals that fact that the efficiency is guided not
by the quantity of hours but rather the quality. Hence in this juncture, in the context of project
management, the time management is a vital topic to analyze and understand. Any project being
in the brains of the manager and designing a proper time schedule for the event of activities is
considered a preliminary step towards project design. The prime elements to time management
involves factors such as time planning, time estimating time scheduling, and time controlling forms
a dynamic components [1]..As mentioned the time management is the vertebra of the system and
any fault in any of these areas impacts the whole project in a serious manner. Hence it is always
advisable to spend time and effort to design and build a proper time management schedule. The
tool such as Schedule Network Analysis, Schedule Compression and Schedule Control are the
widely accepted across the globe irrespective of the work culture or economic situation. The poor
estimation and lack of labors and litigations at any stage can seriously affect the planning. Muskrat
Falls Project, a hydroelectric project of an 824 MW in Labrador is being analyzed thoroughly tires
to uncover the key failures related to time management in a project management scenario. The
lack of alacrity to curb the endless litigations has caused a serious damage to the project and
obviously the project was not able to complete as per the schedule.
Muskrat Falls project, a multibillion Hydroelectric dam on the lower Church hill River is
being carried out by Nalcor Energy. Make Muskrat Right campaign , a movement by the
Nunatsiavut government, argues that the Nalcor Energy is not showing interest in considering the
fact of chemical contamination due to methyl mercury in the Churchill River. Such an irresponsible
activity will pollute Lake Meliville in the downstream. The mandatory flooding of the 41-square
kilometer reservoir dam will eventually cause the decomposition of plants and trees including soil.
Such an incident will catalyze the formation of Methylmercury. The lack of negotiations with the
local community has worsened the situation and Nalcor never came in an agreement with the
community regarding the removal of soil (In fact the company has assured only to cut down the
plants and trees not the soil). Hence in short, this inherent tension between the Nalcor Energy and
the local community has delayed each step of time management and it is unfortunate to say that
this project is one of the mammoth disasters as far as project management is considered. The lack
of preparation and started even at the initial stages with the contractor. This has delayed the project
to some extent. The scientific studies and surveys conducted by the Harvard University was also
pinpointing towards Nalcor.
As mentioned earlier, the time management is the key player in running a project success.
Here in the case of Muskrat falls project there is a miserable situation in handling situations in a
time-based fashion. To some extend we can say that the definition of activities is at par. But there
was miserable failure in sequencing of activities. A stale mate situation has arisen for months and
the obviously there was a huge increase in the expenditure. Nalcor Energy was never in a mood to
prioritize the activities and behaved mostly in a sequential manner. This ultimately lead to the
failure of attending the disturbances at the right time with proper seriousness. The procrastination
of the disputes of the contractor with the suppliers too affected the project in a very bad manner.
The ever-busy attitude of the Nalcor Energy towards the public protest has boiled further hostile
attitude from the public and Inuit community. The Lack of planning and time management in
having negotiations at the proper situation has cost a lot for the project [2]. Moreover, the decreased
buying power of the Canadian dollar has made the situation worse by escalating the cost as mostly
the machineries are imported from United States of America [3]. The survey conducted by EY
(formerly Earnest & Young ) strongly criticizes the faults in the project management along with
the disputes of the contractor Astaldi SpA with the suppliers. The delay of the project has estimated
a cost of a $ 11 billion as opposed to $7 billon as scheduled.

Reference:
1. https://www.pmi.org/learning/library/time-management-project-functions-
schedules-5283
2. http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/newfoundland-labrador/stan-marshall-nalcor-
muskrat-falls-1.2845949
3. http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/newfoundland-labrador/muskrat-fallls-
hydroelectric-nalcor-1.3250377

Anoop Thamarasseril anpthm@web.de Page 2/2