scholarly journals Analysis of Cost Overrun and Schedule Delays of Infrastructure Projects in Low Income Economies: Case Studies in Ethiopia

2021 ◽  
Vol 2021 ◽  
pp. 1-15
Author(s):  
Solomon Melaku Belay ◽  
Seifu Tilahun ◽  
Mitiku Yehualaw ◽  
Jose Matos ◽  
Helder Sousa ◽  
...  

Today, several developing countries struggle to improve the cost and time performances of major infrastructure works due to various reasons. Cost overrun and delay are one of the major challenges being faced by the construction and infrastructure sector. Hence, the aim of this study is to explore the extent of cost overrun and schedule delays in building and road infrastructure projects across the Ethiopian construction industry. Primary data were collected through a structured questionnaire survey to evaluate the potential risks leading to those challenges. Various data analysis tools were employed, to investigate the critical causes of cost overrun and delays in infrastructure projects. The findings reveal that the minimum cost overrun for building construction projects is found to be 2%, whereas the maximum and average cost overruns are 248% and 35%, respectively. For road infrastructure projects, the minimum, maximum, and average cost overruns are found to be 1%, 61%, and 18%, respectively. Similarly, the minimum, maximum, and average delays recorded in building construction projects are 9%, 802%, and 143%, respectively, whereas, in road infrastructure projects, the minimum delay is found to be 3%, the maximum delay is 312%, and an average schedule delay of 110% is recorded. In addition, the top risk factors leading to cost overrun in infrastructure projects are inflation, inaccurate cost estimates, and variations, whereas the major risks causing schedule delays are variations, economic conditions, and escalation of material prices. Further, practical implications and key recommendations were provided to curb cost overrun and delay in infrastructure projects.

2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (16) ◽  
pp. 5506
Author(s):  
Rodrigo F. Herrera ◽  
Omar Sánchez ◽  
Karen Castañeda ◽  
Hernán Porras

Road infrastructure projects are essential for a country’s economic and social development. Due to the magnitude, the projects are associated with considerable economic investments that in the case of failure can seriously affect regions’ economies. Despite the importance, roads from different countries are affected by cost overruns, hence, it is essential to identify and analyze the causative factors to focus the search for mitigation solutions. There are several studies focused on the cost factors identification, however, studies are lacking that synthesize and analyze the frequency and importance with which the factors have been reported to obtain a phenomenon overview. Therefore, this paper focuses on analyzing the frequency and importance with which cost overrun factors are reported in road projects. The research method consisted of a systematic review compound of five principal stages: (1) question formulation; (2) searching of relevant documents; (3) document selection; (4) evidence collection, analysis and synthesis; and (5) results’ report. Thirty-eight cost overrun factors were identified and classified into 14 categories. According to the Influence Index, the five most important and frequent cost overrun factors were: (1) failures in design, (2) price variation of materials, (3) inadequate project planning, (4) project scope changes, and (5) design changes.


2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (21) ◽  
pp. 6005 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elnaz Safapour ◽  
Sharareh Kermanshachi ◽  
Bahaa Alfasi ◽  
Reza Akhavian

Many construction projects suffer from schedule delays that ultimately lead to considerable cost overruns and defeat the purpose of low-cost housing (LCH), which is to support low-income earners. It is, therefore, vital that the schedule delays and cost overruns be minimized. The objectives of this research were to investigate, identify, and classify the schedule-delay indicators (SDIs), prioritize them based on their level of impact, and formulate constructive strategies to improve the schedule performance. To achieve the objectives set forth, 68 interviews were conducted with professionals who are active in LCH projects, and a structured survey was developed and distributed to other experts involved in LCH projects to validate the result of the interviews and collect additional data. Survey responses were collected from 101 individuals and were analyzed. The significant SDIs were identified and classified by the research team and were ranked and prioritized, using the Relative Importance Index (RII) method. The results demonstrated that the identified SDIs could be classified into the following eight main categories: legal, design and technology, project characteristic, project management, material resource, human resource, location, and finance. The outcomes of this study will help project managers and stakeholders identify the causes of schedule delays early in the project and implement effective strategies for improving project performance in low-cost housing projects.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Shahab Shoar ◽  
Tak Wing Yiu ◽  
Shamsi Payan ◽  
Majid Parchamijalal

PurposeAlthough several studies have been conducted on the causes of cost overrun, they have mainly assumed that the causes of cost overrun are independent of each other, and few of them scrutinized the complex interrelationships between the causes. To fill the gap, this study aims to investigate the mutual interactions between the causes of cost overrun using interpretive structural modeling (ISM) and proposing strategies to tackle the causes considering their interactions.Design/methodology/approachCritical causes of cost overrun were identified through a comprehensive literature review. In total, 22 key causes are then refined based on the opinions of relevant experts involved in the Iranian building and construction sector. Using the nominal group technique, the causes' interactions were examined and represented via the ISM diagram. The causes were also classified using “matrix cross-reference multiplication applied to a classification (MICMAC)” technique.FindingsThe results showed that price fluctuation, claims, execution delay, delay in payment and change order positioned at the highest level of the obtained model can directly result in cost overrun, and corruption and poor contract management located at the base of the model are two major root causes of cost overruns. It was also concluded that more attention should be paid to the precontract phase of the project to address and prevent corruption and managerial issues deeply rooted in this stage.Originality/valueThe findings of this study provide a clear understanding of how different causes of cost overrun are related to each other and can ultimately assist project managers of different parties in choosing strategies to mitigate cost overrun in building construction projects.


2017 ◽  
Vol 48 (2) ◽  
pp. 88-98 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dominic D. Ahiaga-Dagbui ◽  
Peter E. D. Love ◽  
Simon D. Smith ◽  
Fran Ackermann

Infrastructure cost overruns receive a significant amount of attention in the academic literature as well as the popular press. The methodological weaknesses in the dominant approaches adopted to explain cost overrun causation on infrastructure projects are explored in this article. A considerable amount of cost overrun research is superficial, replicative, and thus has stagnated the development of a robust theory to mitigate and contain the problem. Future research should move from single-cause identification and the traditional net-effect correlational analysis to a search for causal recipes through systems thinking and retrospective sensemaking to address the high-level interactions between multiple factors.


2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (4) ◽  
pp. 1184
Author(s):  
Ashem Emmanuel Egila ◽  
Oluwaseun Abdulakeem Balogun ◽  
Saheed Olanrewaji Yusuf

Poor road infrastructure in Nigeria is a significant challenge, just like poverty, insecurity, and unemployment. The construction of road in the country is characterized by numerous challenges throughout the project life cycle. Some of these challenges are project delay and cost overrun, corruption and fraud, faulty contractual process among others. Objectives of this study are to identify factors influencing delays and cost overruns in road construction project, to rank these factors base on their impacts and importance, and to suggest conservative ways to address the future challenges that can result from delays and cost overruns of future road construction projects. The research instruments include in-depth literature review, fieldwork, questionnaire administration, and interview. Inferential statistics such as Relative importance index (RII) and Mean Value techniques were used to analyze collected data. The result of the study identified factors influencing delays and cost overruns in road construction projects as; man related, money-related, machine-related, material related, environmental-related, and method related factors. Analysis using RII and MV ranked man and money related as the highest factors for delay and cost overrun respectively. Hence, the research recommends that the Government should create an enabling environment, making suitable policy for the construction company to operate.


2017 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 46 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul Terna Gbahabo ◽  
Oluseye Samuel Ajuwon

This paper provides conceptual insights on the economic impact of project cost overrun and schedule delays on infrastructure procurement in developing countries with huge infrastructure deficit in Sub-Saharan Africa. Projects cost overruns and schedule delay are a major and widespread problem in infrastructure procurement the world over. It has received a lot of attention in the recent past. However, the literature reveals that extant studies on project overruns are heavily skewed towards causative factors, with little or no attention to the effects it has on the economy as a whole. The paucity of studies on the effects of project cost overrun and schedule delay will further reinforce the imperative to reacquaint policymakers and infrastructure developers, as well as project financiers with the gravity and import of the problem for infrastructural development in particular and the wider economy in general. The study undertakes an exploratory approach drawing from a wide range of secondary information and materials obtained from policy documents, study reports and peer-reviewed articles. The findings show that cost overrun and schedule delay in infrastructure procurement can have a damaging economic effect ranging from allocative inefficiency of scarce resources, further delays, contractual disputes, claims and litigation to project failure and total abandonment. The study recommends project management capacity-building for infrastructure developers, project managers as well as a number of innovative control mechanisms such as reference class forecasting, public-private partnership and computer-aided cost estimating tools including artificial neural networks, data mining, building information modelling as well as fuzzy neural inference model, genetic algorithms, and stochastic simulation to curb the menace of the problem.


2018 ◽  
Vol 7 (3.10) ◽  
pp. 160 ◽  
Author(s):  
T Subramani ◽  
P Sivakumar

Construction industry is taken into consideration as one of the maximum crucial industries in India. These phenomena may additionally have an effect on the development of construction industry in India. In addition to may additionally expose many establishments of construction to be destroyed. Delays in addition to disruptions are sources of capacity risks that studies are looking into techniques to manipulate along with technical, social, monetary, felony, economic, useful resource, creation and commercial. To evaluate the reasons of delays and conflicts are due to: layout modifications, delays in price to contractors, facts delays, investment troubles, bad challenge management, compensation problems and disagreement at the valuation of labor accomplished. On the other hand, time overrun, cost overrun, bad social effect, idling assets and disputes are the principle outcomes of delays and disruptions. The observe concludes the reasons of delays and disruptions and their outcomes placed construction projects at extremely great risk that have an impact on their performance the use of primavera. 


2016 ◽  
Vol 32 (1) ◽  
pp. 04015032 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jesper Kranker Larsen ◽  
Geoffrey Qiping Shen ◽  
Søren Munch Lindhard ◽  
Thomas Ditlev Brunoe

2021 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
pp. 38-49
Author(s):  
Alberto De Marco ◽  
Timur Narbaev

Aims: This study illustrates the main factors that influence the cost overruns and schedule delays of tunnel construction megaprojects. Objective: An empirical analysis was carried out based on a dataset collected from a number of recent tunnel megaprojects worldwide. Methods: Analyses of variances and regression analyses were conducted to infer statistical significance and understand the relationships that exist between cost overruns, time delays and variables of context, technical, and governance characteristics of the sample projects. Results: The most significant factors are those related to the complexity of infrastructure and the type of contracting system used to deliver the project. In particular, some technical characteristics pertinent to the size of the tunnel reveal to be influencing factors of both schedule delay and cost overrun, while the usage of a traditional contracting mechanism is likely to impact the cost overrun. The type of infrastructure, region, ownership, and funding scheme are not found to be statistically significant determinants of cost and time performance. Conclusion: This analysis reaffirms that the size and complexity are important factors of typical low performance of tunnel construction megaprojects. The results of this study can be used for strategic design and planning by decision-makers, project managers and designers.


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