Assessment of the Causes of Project Delay in Rural Water Supply Construction Projects: The Case of Jimma zone

Abstract

Construction delays are a common problem worldwide. These problems occur frequently during project life time leading to dispute and litigation. Therefore it is essential to study and analyze the causes of construction delay. To obtain expert opinions from the sector, in total fifty five (55) factors were identified and made part of the survey questionnaire and the survey was conducted with stakeholders from contractors, client and consultants. The researcher select 43 respondents based on purposive sampling method and gathered data using questionnaire. In addition interview questions which enable to achieve the objectives of the research were developed and collect data from 5 interviewees, the interviewees are selected based on their long experience in the sector. The research design was based on exploratory survey and descriptive approaches. The survey revealed the top ten ranked factors of causes of rural water supply construction delay in Jimma zone. These are under estimation of complexity of project, political instability, financial difficulty faced by contractors, unrealistic contract duration, clients’ financial shortage, escalation of material price, delayed payment to contractor, change in scope of project variation and inaccurate cost estimation. In addition ranking of the factor tested with the use of spearman rank coefficient of correlation the agreement among clients, contractors and consultants and the result of the test shows positive correlation between parties. The study recommended to all parties for mitigating project delay