Examining Project Completion Failures in Road Construction: A Case Study of Kafue and Mazabuka Road

The general objective of this research study was to analyse project completion failures in road construction industry. This is a case study of Kafue Mazabuka Road. Specific objectives of the study were to; assess factors that lead to project failure in road construction industry, analyze how time affect road construction projects among contractors, determine how project costing affect road construction projects and identify changes in government policy on road construction. Using the case study research design, this study focused on acquisition of quantitative and qualitative data from a cross-section of people involved in the road construction sector. In consonance with the mixed method design, interview schedule, interview guide and observation checklist were developed to collect the primary data from the field. These instruments were chosen because they are the most appropriate. The interview schedule was used because of its known advantages of building good rapport, creating a relaxed and healthy atmosphere in which respondents easily cooperate, answer questions, and clear misapprehension about any aspect of a study. The data that was collected from the field was cross-checked and edited to ensure that there are no mistakes in the responses and the information given is relevant. The data was then coded and fed into the computer. The Statistical Product for Service Solutions (SPSS version 16) was employed to process and analyze the interview schedules. The in-depth interviews will be analyzed manually. Three reasons were highly emphasized from the response. The first which accounted for 30% was lack of monitoring, secondly, poor scheduling accounted for 20%. The third as indicated by the majority was poor planning 50%. The researcher sought to analyze how time affects road construction projects among contractors. As such the findings below show that time needs to be considered because it its part of scheduling 47%. 20% said it is an importance factor in networking diagrams whilst 33% said it is an important element in planning. Time and cost are considered to be the most crucial factors that contribute to the success of a project, and in reality are the only factors on which everything hinges, and are the most critical factor in the decision on whether a project commences or is shelved. The following are the recommendations; It would not be accurate to identify the causes of cost overrun for a specific country from global literature only. Out of those causes, seven factors were recognized as factors that make the most significant effect on the cost of construction projects in general, namely (1) project management, (2) risk assessment, (3) cost-benefit analysis, (4) construction management, (5) time overrun (6) decision making, (7) design/ methodology/ approach. These must be studied separately. One of the potential solutions to reduce the effect of cost overrun in construction projects is the embedding of an effective resources (human, technical, and material) management system within construction projects as it seems that most of the causes of cost overrun are related to and external stakeholders is a very important task to deliver projects successfully and reduce cost overrun. Training is important to project teams. Finally, the risk is more important in construction megaprojects to identify these causes beforehand so that the team can take necessary actions to prevent them or reduce the effect of the risk. Therefore, a proper risk assessment at the beginning of the project is essential to identify these causes.