ASSESSING CRITICAL FACTORS AFFECTING THE PERFORMANCE OF ROAD CONSTRUCTION PROJECTS (A CASE OF ROAD PROJECTS IN SIDAMA ROADS AUTHORITY)

Abstract

The Construction Industry is one of the very fast-growing industries but it also faces many problems which impinge on the performance of their projects. For this reason, it is necessary to plan these projects properly to guarantee their success. The study was conducted with the objective of identifying critical factors affecting the performance of road construction projects in Sidama Roads Authority, developing a framework to improve the performance of road construction projects in SRA and giving suggestion and recommendation to mend the performance of road construction projects in SRA. The study adopted a descriptive research design. Mixed research approach was also employed in this study. A relevant literature was reviewed and self-administered questionnaire which contain A total of 54 performance factors with seven factor groups categorization. It was designed to collect relevant information from purposively selected 120 respondents of SRA (Bensa Daayye road district). Study population was pre-selected twenty (20) road construction projects which found in six road clusters of Bensa Daayye road districts. Additionally; Data were gathered through Focus discussion group. collected data was coded and entered into statistical packages for Social Scientists SPSS Version (27) and analyzed using descriptive statistics such as percentage, frequency and relative importance index (RII) was used to rank the identified factors. The findings were presented in form of tables while explanation was presented in prose and the findings revealed seventeen most significant factors that significantly affects the performance of road construction projects in selected twenty road construction projects in SRA those factors. Those factors were the main causes for the delay and cost overrun. Thus, the output of this research will contribute to identify and understand the critical factors affecting the performance of road construction projects in SRA, by providing fully enough information to identify the areas where necessary action needs to be taken and by furtherly providing respective suggestion, recommendation and subjective framework to improve performance of road construction projects. In addition, it is recommended to Moreover, in addition to the studied critical factors, further in-depth investigation is recommended on many unaddressed critical factors