Running away from progress – Business knowledge

Today, May 7, the Seimas is scheduled to consider amendments to the Law on Roads, which propose to waive the obligation to use the information modeling method – BIM – in the design of part of the roads from June. It would not apply to roads except in difficult cases: flyovers, flyovers, bridges, level crossings, intersections, tunnels, etc.

BIM (English Building Information Modelling), or building information modeling in Lithuanian, started to become popular in our country more than a decade ago, through companies in the construction sector that exported their services to Scandinavia and other countries.

It is the process of creating and managing all information related to a facility throughout its life cycle: from initial concept to demolition. After the architect has designed the object and created a three-dimensional visualization, everyone involved in its construction works with this project.

Representatives of the construction sector have been fighting for digital progress for many years – finally in 2015. The government approved the digitalization initiative of the sector, recognizing the possibility of increasing its efficiency.

Since then, BIM has become commonplace in construction. For example, in the public sector, BIM is mandatory from 2022, as it is intended to promote faster technological progress and digitization of processes in construction.

The current leaders of the Ministry of Transport agree with the proposals of the parliamentarians to change the procedure – to no longer apply BIM to roads. Ramūnas Dilba, the chancellor of the Ministry of Transport, recently claimed at a meeting of the Seimas Economic Committee that due to BIM, road projects become more expensive and design takes longer. A more than 70% increase was mentioned, due to BIM design, the term is said to be extended from 9 to 25 months, etc.

The representatives of the Ministry and the state company “Via Lietuva” (former Motor Road Directorate) agree that BIM ensures the highest quality and accuracy requirements of the project when designing complex road infrastructure objects, and allows efficient use of resources at all stages.

But for less complex projects, such as roads, they say, BIM “can be seen as a redundant process.” It is asserted that in this case the quality of construction and operation can be ensured by inspections and tests.

Entrepreneurs call proposals to abandon BIM a mistake.

“It will cost investors, the country’s business time, and we will have problems in the competitive struggle. This will affect work productivity, will not reduce the administrative burden, etc. Progress in our country depends on how we are able to be faster in making our decisions. The desire to abandon BIM condemns us to forget such topical issues as “SMART City”, “Digital Twin”, DI, “ChatGPT”, etc.,” says Dalius Gedvilas, president of the Lithuanian Builders’ Association (LSA).

According to him, there is another way – the institutions organizing public procurement can simply demand less detail in the projects.

Kęstutis Vanagas, head of the company “YIT Lietuva”, says that the proposal to abandon BIM is negative. According to him, it might not harm the quality of the project, but it would cause a lot of additional worries for the business, because there are fewer opportunities to use the advantages of BIM – efficiency and transparency of work.

And processes are different – redundant requirements and uncertainties. The businessman claims that BIM should be applied more widely and mandatory for road construction and reconstruction: only in this way can one step forward and raise infrastructure projects to a higher level.

The Ministry of Transport VŽ explained that the decision to abandon BIM in the design process will not affect the quality of roads, as it is regulated by other legal acts. The representatives of “Via Lietuvos” subordinate to the ministry agree with it.

Entrepreneurs look deeper – according to D. Gedvilas, BIM allows to reduce errors and automate the issuing of construction permits. With special software, it is possible to check whether the project meets the requirements of the urban, general and detailed plan, maintains the specified distances, etc.

“With organized and stored data, we can automate the issuing of construction permits. The European Union states that are advanced in this area thus improve the investment environment and provide an advantage”, he says and adds that the Scandinavian countries, Estonia, France, the Netherlands, etc. are following this path.

It is not entirely clear what path the Ministry of Transport and state-owned road manager “Via Lietuva” is preparing to take? Why did the ministry need to disrupt the digitalization model of the construction sector by “deleting” roads from it? Too much progress?

The president of the LSA considers that the members of the Seimas submitting proposals may simply be misled, – it is likely that someone is informing them incorrectly. According to him, the right solutions can always be found by listening to those who are at the forefront of the construction sector, rather than trying to stay in the market using primitive technologies.

Perhaps we should really take a closer look at the proposals of the representatives of this sector, instead of cutting through technological progress, we should first take and reduce redundant requirements and uncertainties.

EDITORIAL ARTICLE (editorial) – an essay reflecting the opinions of the editorial office, written in its name, often without specifying the specific author, often responding to some events, facts, trends. It is characterized by a small, often the same volume for all editorial articles in the publication, a concise presentation of ideas, thesis-like argumentation, and elements of journalistic rhetoric are used. It is customary to present conclusions, summaries that reflect the editorial’s provisions. / Encyclopedia of Journalism /