Integrated Project Controls and Construction Supply Chain Technologies for Cost, Schedule and Risk Management in Saudi Giga-Projects
Abstract
Saudi Arabia’s giga-project programme brings together major capital investment, numerous interfaces, multiple contractors, imported materials, off-site production, and regulatory dependencies within compressed delivery periods. As a result, conventional project-control and construction supply-chain practices lose effectiveness when they operate as separate reporting activities. This article gives a critical examination of how integrated project control and construction supply-chain technologies can be used to enhance cost, schedule, and risk management in Saudi giga-projects. It uses a structured integrative review method to combine recent peer-reviewed research on earned value management, 4D/5D building information modelling, sensing-based progress monitoring, digital twins, artificial intelligence, blockchain, and digital supply-chain platforms with studies that are specific to Saudi conditions concerning delay, cost overruns, BIM adoption, and project governance. The synthesis indicates that technology generates value primarily when the data structures, control accounts, procurement packages, logistics milestones and risk registers are aligned with a common work breakdown and decision schedule. BIM and digital twins enhance the visibility of spatiotemporal information; sensing and analytics improve the verification and prediction of progress; blockchain can improve the traceability of transactions; and supply-chain visibility allows for earlier responses to interruptions in materials, fabrication and logistics. Yet, merely introducing technology in isolation can lead to the digital replication of fragmented processes. The review thus proposes an integrated control-to-supply chain framework that links baseline, actual, forecast and risk information across the owner, programme manager, contractor, supplier and logistics levels. The paper concludes that the success of Saudi giga-projects depends less on acquiring individual technologies and more on establishing interoperable data governance, following disciplined project-control procedures, obtaining reliable field evidence, and having contractual incentives to promote transparent information sharing between organisations.