Abstract:
Delay in road construction projects is considered one of the most common and serious
problems plaguing the Nigerian construction industry given the number and the value of
the road projects involved.Yet, research is scarce on this issue; hence this research was
conducted to investigate the problems. The potential causes of Untimely Completed
Construction Road Projects (UCRP)were summarized into 41 items to be rated in an
industry wide questionnaire survey. The questionnaire also includes an open-ended
question on suggestions to solveUCRP. One hundred and eleven (111) questionnaire
responses were received from the one hundred and fifty (150) questionnaires
distributed to the Permanent Secretary of Works, Directors of Works, Director of Road
Projects, Federal Road Maintenance (FERMA) Directors, Supervisors, Contractors and
Consultants. Subsequently, a series of ten semi-structured interviews were conducted
to obtain detailed opinions from experienced players in the industry concerning the
causes of UCRP and how to solve the problems. Quantitative analyses include ranking
of the 41 potential causes of UCRP with Spearman’s ranking correlation between
different groups of respondents and factor analysis with Cronbach’s α reliability
analysis. The results of the open ended question on solving UCRP and the results
of the semi-structured interviews were analysed. The Spearman’s correlations between
client/owner and consultant, client/owner and contractor/supplier, client/owner and
others, consultant and contractor/supplier, consultant and others, and contractor/supplier and others are 0.904, 0.936, 0.930, 0.907, 0.896, and 0.943 respectively. The Spearman’s correlations between government official and client/owner, consultant, contractor/supplier, and others are 0.367, 0.361, 0.393 and 0.447 respectively. It was concluded that all correlations are significant at the 1% significance level except for the correlation between consultant and government official which is significant at the 5% significance level.
