ASSESSMENT OF MANAGEMENT TECHNIQUES FOR MITIGATING RISK FACTORS ASSOCIATED WITH ROAD PROJECTS CONSTRUCTION IN OSOGBO, NIGERIA

Abstract

Construction industry is a vital sector needed for the provision of functional infrastructure such as roads. The industry employs high percentage of workforce in any country. However, the sector is characterized with risks of different form. This study was conducted to assess management techniques for mitigating risk factors associated with road projects construction in Osogbo, Nigeria. Using survey design, the study was carried out using the three major road projects namely Old garage Osogbo to Kwara boundary road, Ring road (Osogbo bye pass) and Osogbo township road (20 road merged project). A total of seventy 68 professionals comprising 53 consultants in the Ministry of Works of the state and 15 staff of the construction companies were purposively selected for the study. These respondents supplied the primary data for achieving the objectives in the study using a structured questionnaire. The general opinion of respondents ranked purpose of project defined (0.842), experienced professionals for this type of project (0.817) and Quality Assurance/Quality Control (QA/QC) (0. 773) services as first, second and third management risks in road projects in the study area. Engineering practices (0.795) Preliminary soil investigations (0.788) and geotechnical conditions (0.762) are the first, second and third ranked design risks while materials price inflation (0.737), cost overrun (0.7012) and constructability reviews (0.6738) were ranked first, second and third finance risks. On the other hand, availability of labor/material (0.787) and number of utilities in the site (0.730) were first and second ranked labour/equipment risk factors affecting the road projects construction performance just as land acquisition/compensation/social impact assessment (0. 737), traffic/incident management (0.729) and subcontractors delays (0.630) are the highest first, second and third external risks. Setting of the supervisory team (0.813), measurement of actual work done on site (0. 787) and request for contractor program of work (0. 766) are the three highest ranked management factors that can 3 improve road construction in Osogbo, Nigeria. Lastly, the study revealed that more than fifty percent of the respondents are of the opinion that the current stage of road projects implementation in the study area is more than 50%.