Time and Cost Overruns in Road Construction Projects in Kenya Under Kenya National Highways Authority

Abstract

Many projects in developing countries encounter considerable time and cost overruns, fail to realize their intended benefit or are even totally terminated and abandoned before or after their completion. This paper sought to investigate the factors that contribute to time and cost overruns in road construction projects in Kenya and was guided by the following specific objectives; to identify factors influencing road construction time and cost overruns in Kenya and to establish the relative importance of these factors. The paper utilized both primary and secondary data and the target population consisted of 24 successfully completed road projects undertaken by KeNHA in the last three fiscal years, where 10 projects was taken. A 4- point Likert scale was used to measure the output of each item answered by the participants, whereas Principal Component Analysis (PCA) was applied to extract the factors, which were increase in scope of work, delayed payments to the contractor, poor cost control, foreign exchange rate fluctuations, poor or inadequate specifications in the contract, and unpredicted weather. The Relative Importance Indicator (RII) was used to measure the likelihood or recurrence of the factors from the respondent’s point of view and 35 variables had a high possibility of recurring in future similar projects. At macrolevel, the paper recommends that policy makers both at county and national level formulate strategies geared towards mitigating the impact of these factors given the fact that most of them have a high chance of recurring in future road projects. At the micro-level, contractors, consultancies, and other stakeholders need to do proper definition of project scope and apply modern project management tools given the fact that increase in scope of work was a lead factor contributing to time and cost overruns on road projects.

Keywords: Cost and time overruns, project implementation,
project management