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Investigating Causes of Construction Delay in Ethiopian Construction Industries

Received: 17 October 2016     Accepted: 4 November 2016     Published: 2 December 2016
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Abstract

Construction delays are occurring in every phase of a construction project and are common problems in construction projects in Ethiopia. Moreover, it is well known that the delays in construction projects are the major causes of project failure. If the delay is not identified and the corrective project management decision is not taken in time a project may incur extra cost and extension of project time, which gives rise to dissatisfaction to all the parties involved and nowadays it’s becoming a major obstruction for their development for developing countries like Ethiopia. This research first identified 88 key factors causing delay in Ethiopian construction industries, and then the most common and critical causes of construction delay were evaluated by using both the data collected in a survey of construction managers, resident engineers, contractors, and clients, and interviews with senior professionals in the field. The findings show that the main critical factors that cause construction delays in Ethiopia are: (1) Difficulties in financing project by a contractor; (2) Escalation of the materials price; (3) Infective project planning; (4) Scheduling or resource management; (5) Delay in progress payments for completed works, (6) Lack of skilled professionals in the field of construction management in the organization, and (7) Fluctuating labor availability season to season /Seasonal labors availability. This study shows that in Ethiopia only 8.25% projects have been finished to the original targeted completion date. The remaining 91.75% delayed 352% of its contractual time. This paper finally came up with solutions towards reducing the impact of delays on construction projects in Ethiopia.

Published in Journal of Civil, Construction and Environmental Engineering (Volume 1, Issue 1)
DOI 10.11648/j.jccee.20160101.13
Page(s) 18-29
Creative Commons

This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.

Copyright

Copyright © The Author(s), 2016. Published by Science Publishing Group

Keywords

Construction Delay, Delay Causes, Top-Ten Delay Factors

References
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Cite This Article
  • APA Style

    Werku Koshe, K. N. Jha. (2016). Investigating Causes of Construction Delay in Ethiopian Construction Industries. Journal of Civil, Construction and Environmental Engineering, 1(1), 18-29. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.jccee.20160101.13

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    ACS Style

    Werku Koshe; K. N. Jha. Investigating Causes of Construction Delay in Ethiopian Construction Industries. J. Civ. Constr. Environ. Eng. 2016, 1(1), 18-29. doi: 10.11648/j.jccee.20160101.13

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    AMA Style

    Werku Koshe, K. N. Jha. Investigating Causes of Construction Delay in Ethiopian Construction Industries. J Civ Constr Environ Eng. 2016;1(1):18-29. doi: 10.11648/j.jccee.20160101.13

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  • @article{10.11648/j.jccee.20160101.13,
      author = {Werku Koshe and K. N. Jha},
      title = {Investigating Causes of Construction Delay in Ethiopian Construction Industries},
      journal = {Journal of Civil, Construction and Environmental Engineering},
      volume = {1},
      number = {1},
      pages = {18-29},
      doi = {10.11648/j.jccee.20160101.13},
      url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.jccee.20160101.13},
      eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.jccee.20160101.13},
      abstract = {Construction delays are occurring in every phase of a construction project and are common problems in construction projects in Ethiopia. Moreover, it is well known that the delays in construction projects are the major causes of project failure. If the delay is not identified and the corrective project management decision is not taken in time a project may incur extra cost and extension of project time, which gives rise to dissatisfaction to all the parties involved and nowadays it’s becoming a major obstruction for their development for developing countries like Ethiopia. This research first identified 88 key factors causing delay in Ethiopian construction industries, and then the most common and critical causes of construction delay were evaluated by using both the data collected in a survey of construction managers, resident engineers, contractors, and clients, and interviews with senior professionals in the field. The findings show that the main critical factors that cause construction delays in Ethiopia are: (1) Difficulties in financing project by a contractor; (2) Escalation of the materials price; (3) Infective project planning; (4) Scheduling or resource management; (5) Delay in progress payments for completed works, (6) Lack of skilled professionals in the field of construction management in the organization, and (7) Fluctuating labor availability season to season /Seasonal labors availability. This study shows that in Ethiopia only 8.25% projects have been finished to the original targeted completion date. The remaining 91.75% delayed 352% of its contractual time. This paper finally came up with solutions towards reducing the impact of delays on construction projects in Ethiopia.},
     year = {2016}
    }
    

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  • TY  - JOUR
    T1  - Investigating Causes of Construction Delay in Ethiopian Construction Industries
    AU  - Werku Koshe
    AU  - K. N. Jha
    Y1  - 2016/12/02
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    N1  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.jccee.20160101.13
    DO  - 10.11648/j.jccee.20160101.13
    T2  - Journal of Civil, Construction and Environmental Engineering
    JF  - Journal of Civil, Construction and Environmental Engineering
    JO  - Journal of Civil, Construction and Environmental Engineering
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    PB  - Science Publishing Group
    SN  - 2637-3890
    UR  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.jccee.20160101.13
    AB  - Construction delays are occurring in every phase of a construction project and are common problems in construction projects in Ethiopia. Moreover, it is well known that the delays in construction projects are the major causes of project failure. If the delay is not identified and the corrective project management decision is not taken in time a project may incur extra cost and extension of project time, which gives rise to dissatisfaction to all the parties involved and nowadays it’s becoming a major obstruction for their development for developing countries like Ethiopia. This research first identified 88 key factors causing delay in Ethiopian construction industries, and then the most common and critical causes of construction delay were evaluated by using both the data collected in a survey of construction managers, resident engineers, contractors, and clients, and interviews with senior professionals in the field. The findings show that the main critical factors that cause construction delays in Ethiopia are: (1) Difficulties in financing project by a contractor; (2) Escalation of the materials price; (3) Infective project planning; (4) Scheduling or resource management; (5) Delay in progress payments for completed works, (6) Lack of skilled professionals in the field of construction management in the organization, and (7) Fluctuating labor availability season to season /Seasonal labors availability. This study shows that in Ethiopia only 8.25% projects have been finished to the original targeted completion date. The remaining 91.75% delayed 352% of its contractual time. This paper finally came up with solutions towards reducing the impact of delays on construction projects in Ethiopia.
    VL  - 1
    IS  - 1
    ER  - 

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Author Information
  • Dept. of Construction Technology & Management, Dire Dawa Institute of Technology, Dire Dawa, Ethiopia

  • Dept. of Civil Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi, Hauz Khas, New Delhi, India

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