Mitigation of delays attributable to the contractors in the construction industry of Sri Lanka - consultants’perspective

This study focuses on determining important causes of construction delays attributable to contractors in large construction projects in Sri Lanka and the degree of severity of these causes. The causes of delay have been found based on the perceptions of the engineers working for three state affiliated establishments namely, Department of Buildings (BD), Road Development Authority (RDA) & National Water Supply and Drainage Board (NWSDB).The severity of each cause of delay is measured and represented through a severity index (SI). The causes of delay were determined and ranked in the descending order of severity. According to the findings, Poor project planning & scheduling (SI -82.54) is the most influencing factor causing delays in construction projects. In the descending order of severity, the other causes of delay are Low profit margin (SI -80.28), Inadequate cash flow management (SI -78.31), Handling of too many project sat a given time (SI -75.21), and Incompetence of the key staff (SI -74.93).Spearman rank correlation coefficient was used to determine the degree of agreement on the ranking of severity of causes of delay among the organisations. The highest degree of agreement is between BD & NWSDB (0.77). There exists an intermediate degree of agreement between RDA & NWSDB (0.73) and the lowest is between RDA & BD (0.70).The study finally makes 10 recommendations to mitigate construction delays.

ENGINEER, Vol. 48, No.01, pp. 21-30, 2015