Prasad K V; Vasugi V; Venkatesan R and Bhat, N (2019) Analysis of causes of delay in Indian construction projects and mitigation measures. Journal of Financial Management of Property and Construction, 24(1), pp. 58-78. ISSN 1366-4387
Abstract
Purpose: Construction projects in India continue to suffer excessive delays. This paper aims to investigate the delay causes in India by project sector (transport, power, buildings and water) and carry out a comparative study of delay causes in design build (DB) projects with that of design bid build (DBB) projects along with mitigation measures. Design/methodology/approach: A questionnaire survey was conducted among major clients, contractors and consultants in India. Importance Index was used for ranking of the delay causes. Projects were categorized based on the type, and causes of delay in each project type were identified. Projects were also categorized based on type of contract, and delay causes in DB and DBB projects were compared. Statistical analysis of responses by Cronbach’s alpha, one-way analysis of variance, Kruskal–Wallis tests was carried out with Statistical Package for Social Sciences. Semi-structured in-depth interviews were conducted with senior industry professionals to develop exhaustive mitigation measures. Findings: The research findings indicate finance-related causes as the most critical causes of delay in Indian projects. Delay in settlement of claims, contractor’s financial difficulties, delay in payment for extra work/variations by owner, late payment from contractor to subcontractor or suppliers, variation orders/changes of scope by owner during construction and changes in design by owner were the highly ranked delay causes. The research found no significant difference in the delay causes in DB and DBB projects. Originality/value: This is the first study wherein delay causes for various project types within a single country are identified. In addition, the study has identified and compared the delay causes in DB projects and DBB projects. Mitigation measures developed in this study will help professionals and project managers not just in India but other developing countries as well to alleviate delay causes and in improvement of project timelines.
| Item Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | construction in developing countries; construction project management; construction time; delays in project delivery; India; infrastructure projects |
| Index terms: | infrastructure project, India, late payment, construction time, project delivery, social science, comparative study, causes of delay, construction project management, owner, design-bid-build, statistical analysis, variance, package, project manager, subcontractor, construction project, variation, methodology, questionnaire, mitigation, design build, survey, interview, developing country |
| Subjects: | project delivery, contractual arrangements, data science, practitioner, research design and methodology, profession, data collection methods, infrastructure and transport systems, sociology, measurement and scaling, project controls, payment, financial risk, project management theory and practice, development economics, contractual condition, Geography, production management, research methods, theoretical framing |
| Topics: | Research Practice, Geographical Context, Project Management, Engineering Principles, Cost Management, Procurement, Roles and Professions, Stakeholder Management, International Construction, Time Control, Contract Administration |
| 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