Delay Factors of Construction Project Delivery in Nigeria

Abstract

It is evident in the Nigeria construction industry that it is a rare event that the projects are completed on the scheduled time, budgeted cost, and desired quality because the construction projects experience a tremendous amount of delays. Timely completion of construction project is a major criterion of project success. The need to control the causes of delays during the construction process comes out when the number of delay project has been increasing from time to time. Hence, it is essential to identify the causes of this problem from the early stage of construction project. The objectives of this study are to Develop a framework for mitigating delay factors on construction project delivery in Nigeria, the study tends to evaluate the causes of delay in term of frequency occurrence and severity effect and have develop a framework to mitigate its occurrence. A total of 136 contractors, consultants, site engineers and project managers with an experience in construction of infrastructural project were involved in the study. A questionnaire survey was conducted to identify the significant causes of delay in order to avoid or minimize their impact on construction project. The perspective of contractors, consultants and client has been analyzed and ranked based on Relative Important Index (RII). The study indicate that the top major causes of delay were ´Owner interference´, ´Frequent change orders´, ´Long waiting time for approval of tests and inspection´, ´Shortage of construction material´, ´Mistakes in design documents´, ´Inappropriate organizational structure linking all parties involved in the project´, ´Mistakes and discrepancies in design documents´, ´Discrepancies in contract document´ and ´Delays caused by subcontractors´. In addition, the top major effects of delay were; time overrun, cost overrun, dispute, arbitration, litigation and abandonment.