Performance of Project Consultants in Public Building Construction Projects: In case of Jimma Town

Abstract

Currently, Ethiopian’s construction industry is in a struggle of undertaking mega projects that demands huge physical resources, finance and political decisions. However, the lion share of design preparation and supervision part were goes to the consultant firms. Therefore, the project consultants play a very significant role in providing services in the production of well-coordinated design, timely supervision and proper contract administration from the beginning to the completion of the project. This helps to overcome the very common problems of projects such as claims, project delay, poor quality product and greater uncertainties of project cost. Beside, when the consultancy services are not effectively and properly delivered, it is very difficult to ensure the successful completion of the primarily objectives of the given projects. Therefore, this study aims to assess the major factors affecting the performance of project consultants, their impacts on project success and remedial measures in case of Jimma Town. To achieve the objectives of this study purposive sampling technique and descriptive type of research design were used. Questionnaire survey was conducted using 68 identified factors which are categorized into 9 groups. 52 Questionnaires were distributed, and 46(88.11%) questionnaires were returned. The results were analyzed using Microsoft Excel, and SPSS then ranked using Relative Importance Index (RII) and presented by tables and charts. Accordingly, the top five most important factors agreed by clients, consultants and contractors were: Management related factor, Environment related factors, Material related factors, political and economic related factors and design and supervision related factors respectively. Unfortunately, occurrence of claim and disputes on contractors, demolition and rework, project delay and wastage of construction materials were ranked as the most common effects due to inadequate project design and supervision consultancy service. Adversarial relationship among the contracting parties, increased project cost, delay of payment, productivity loses and contract cancellation were also forwarded from interviewers as the serious impacts in the study area. Furthermore, Continuing client and contractor involvement in the design and supervision management/ lean construction approach, Working cooperatively together, sharing the same vision and objectives for the project, Involving all project teams in decision making processes, Spending sufficient time and money in project planning, Design and supervision, Practicing consultancy performance appraisal, Selecting design and supervision consultancy service providers on the basis of value and competency not on the basis of lowest price alone, Mission focus/priority-setting, Training design and supervision personnel available across all disciplines and Framing the contracting arrangement around goodwill and fair dealing in an open communication environment respectively were ranked as the highest remedial measures. Finally, the study conclude that; there were still numerous factors affecting the performance of project consultants within a projects and this also influences time, cost and quality performance of public building construction projects in Jimma Town.