THE CAUSES AND EFFECTS OF RIGHT OF WAY PROBLEM ON THE COST OVERRUN AND TIME OVERRUN OF ETHIOPIAN FEDERAL ROAD PROJECTS. (A CASE STUDY OF ERA WESTERN REGION PROJECTS

Abstract

Right-of-way acquisition problem is a major obstacle in Ethiopian Federal road projects which significantly affect most projects’ final cost and schedule by creating disruption. Even though some researchers state right-of-way problem as the main reason for delay and cost overrun of projects within the country, only few studies were done to investigate the causes and the effects it brought to the construction industry. Taking this into consideration, this research was carried out to study the root causes of right-of-way obstruction; the effects it brought to the time overrun and cost overrun of Ethiopian Federal Road Project and the mitigation measures to adopt. The research used literature review, questionnaire survey, case study and desk study to collect the necessary data. A total of 39 questionnaires from client, consultants and contractors were collected to see the perspectives of different group of respondents on causes of right-of-way problems on Ethiopian Federal Road projects and the mitigation measures to adopt. 26 causes of right-of-way problems of road projects and 19 mitigation measures to adopt were identified and rated using a four-point Likert scale. A case study was done on 10 Ethiopian Road Authority western region projects to see the practical effects of right-of-way problem on time overrun and cost overrun of projects. According to the total collected survey data analysis, the cause of right of-way problem with the highest importance index of 72.68% was “Insufficient coordination between right-of-way agents and utility authorities” which was resulted from poor employer relationship with the utility authorities. In the same way, the best practice to mitigate right-of way problem with the highest relative important index of 0.90 was “Creating good communication and team work sprit with Utility Authorities”. All of the projects under the case study had both cost overrun and time extension due to many reasons. The extension of time due to right-of-way problem ranges from 4.2% to 58.8 % of the total extension of time and there were no cost claims in relation to right of way problems on projects under the case study. However the desk study shows delay has a major contribution to project completion cost through time related costs