FACTORS AFFECTING TIME OVERRUN in ROAD CONSTRUCTION PROJECTS: A CASE of HARAR CITY

Abstract

Time overrun considered as one of the most common problems causing a multitude negative effect on projects, and its participating parties. Harar city is the ancient civilized city visited by tourists the living museum in Ethiopia and this fact makes the necessity of standardized roads in the city even more critical and vital. Despite this construction delay remains the main problem. This research is a cross-sectional design in which data were collected at one time from respondents of the survey. The objective of the study is to investigate the factors that cause time overrun during construction road construction projects of Harar city. The total sample size of the study was 51 respondents from contracting companies, consultant offices & client. The respondents’ documents were collected using questionnaire from client, contractors and consultants. The questionnaire was cleared coded, and entered to statistical Software of Epi data version 4.6 and exported into SPSS window version 26. Descriptive statistics was computed to determine the frequency of variable. Relative Importance Index (RII) method were used to determine the relative significance and ranking of the causes. Accordingly, except for contractor related factors (aggregate RII 0.47) all factors were significant by their aggregate relative importance index. The five most common factors for road construction projects time overrun in Harrar city are Poor preparation and planning (material/labor estimation) ((RII 0.861), Poor communication and coordination with other parties (RII 0.819), Escalation of material prices (RII 0.692), Slowness in making decisions (RII 0.676); Bureaucracy in Government agencies (RII 0.657). The analysis carried out on the effect of time overrun in road construction projects shows that extended completion time of the project (RII = 0.915), cost overrun (RII = 0.879), disputes and claims (RII = 0.724), negative social impact (RII = 0.681) and arbitration (RII = 0.676) were ranked highest. However, the study identified ways that can be taken by construction professionals and other stakeholders to avoid and eventually reduce time overrun in road construction projects. Among other ways, the most suggested by respondents includes Effective strategic planning (RII = 0.915), Proper site management and supervision (RII = 0.894), Proper project planning and scheduling (RII = 0.892), Complete and proper design at the right time (RII = 0.890), Frequent progress meetings (RII = 0.876), Accurate initial cost estimates (RII = 0.876) and Clear information and communication channels (RII = 0.870).