Causes of project cost overruns within the Ghanaian road construction sector
Files
(Published version)
Date
2010
Authors
Chileshe, N.
Berko, P.D.
Editors
Advisors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Type:
Conference paper
Citation
Association of Schools of Construction of Southern Africa, Fifth Built Environment Conference 2010, 2010, pp.66-81
Statement of Responsibility
Conference Name
Fifth Built Enivronment Conference 2010 (18 Jul 2010 - 20 Jul 2010 : Durban, South Africa)
Abstract
Purpose of the study: The purpose of this paper is to assess the main factors that influence the project cost overruns within the Ghanaian road construction sector and to examine their relative importance.
Design/methodology/approach: A survey of randomly selected samples via email resulted in 34 responses comprising 4 consultants, 23 clients (private and public) and 7 contractors drawn from Ghana Highway Authority, Department of feeder roads; and the Department of urban roads. The survey included 13 project cost overrun variables. The data was subjected to descriptive statistics analysis and subsequently the total scores were determined which enabled the ranking of the factors and establishing the level of importance.
Findings: The empirical analysis found the following factors of; delays in monthly payments to contractors; variations; inflation, and schedule slippage as significantly important. Other factors which appeared as not very important but of concern are poor communication; technical complexity / size of projects; force majeure; and dispute. Project management practices such as partnering and value management were not all that popular within the Ghanaian road construction sector. The study also found that risk management and Total Quality Management (TQM) though popular were not being effectively applied