Enshassi, A; Al-Najjar, J and Kumaraswamy, M (2009) Delays and cost overruns in the construction projects in the Gaza Strip. Journal of Financial Management of Property and Construction, 14(2), pp. 126-151. ISSN 1366-4387
Abstract
Purpose – Delays and cost overruns are evidently frequent problems in the construction industries of many developed and developing countries. The purpose of this paper is to assess factors leading to time overruns (delays) and cost overruns in construction projects in the Gaza Strip. Since there appear to be additional special contributors to delays here, the relative perceptions of contractors, consultants and owners are compared, based on a listing of causal factors derived from previous studies elsewhere, together with other factors arising from special conditions in the Gaza Strip. Design/methodology/approach A survey of a randomly selected samples yielded responses from 66 contractors, 27 consultants, and 31 owners. The survey included 110 delay factors/causes which were grouped into 12 major groups. The same survey also included 42 cost overrun factors. The level of importance of the delays and cost overrun factors were measured and ranked by their importance indexes, according to the perspectives of contractors, consultants, and owners. Findings There seems to be a general agreement between contractors, consultants and owners regarding causes of delays and cost overruns. The main four causes of time delays included strikes and border closures, materialrelated factors, lack of materials in markets, and delays in materials delivery to the site. Additionally, the main three causes for cost overruns included price fluctuations of construction materials, contractor delays in material and equipment delivery, and inflation. Originality/value The outcome of this paper will assist owners, contractors, and consultants in understanding the reasons for delays and cost overruns, thus eliminating or minimizing these causes. This could be achieved by better management of the projects and by finding new methods for storing the critical materials from the beginning of the project. Furthermore, the local government is advised to initiate legislation to overcome problems arising from monopolies in the supply of construction materials.
| Item Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | construction operations; contract costs; delivery lead time; Palestine |
| Index terms: | local government, developing country, legislation, survey, methodology, inflation, construction project, Palestine, time overrun, construction operation, owner, cost overrun, lead time, causes of delay, time delay, construction material, construction industry, Gaza Strip, markets |
| Subjects: | building materials, economic analysis, financial and cost management, construction operations, legal systems, data collection methods, sociology, project controls, industry analysis, administrative law, research methods, physical geography and landforms, development economics, Geography, production management |
| Topics: | Stakeholder Management, Cost Management, Business Strategy, Project Management, Geographical Context, Research Practice, Engineering Principles, Site Management, Time Control, Legal Issues, International Construction |
| Descriptive scope: | 5 PCTEA |
N.B. Descriptive scope is a count of how many of the five facets of empirical research are indicated by the words used in title, abstract and keywords. It is not intended as a judgement on the research; merely a count of the kind of word we would expect to indicate Phenomenon, Concepts, Theoretical framing, Empirical techniques, Analytical techniques. If all five are present, then a code of “5 PCTEA” will indicate this. If you feel the coding for this record is questionable, we welcome discussion around the terms we matched or the way we categorized them. The facet you would expect may not be coded, or a facet may be coded inappropriately. This can also bear on a larger question, of which facets should be treated as defining in construction management research. Please get in touch, and we will look at it. More details here