Factors Affecting Time and Cost Performance of Construction Projects in Rwanda. A Case Study of High-rise Building Projects in Kigali.

Abstract

Highrise building projects are naturally complex due to the involvement of numerous parties from the project owner, professionals, consultants, contractors, stakeholders, suppliers and regulators. Most multistorey projects in Rwanda encounter problems and issues of performance such as extensive schedule and budget overruns. Any project success always rests on the performance which is proven by completion on time within the allocated budget and expected quality that is required by the users of the facility and satisfaction of the client. The research objectives were: To identify factors causing significant delays in Highrise building projects, to find out factors causing significant cost overrun in Highrise building projects and to propose strategy to minimize the causes leading to significant delay and cost overruns in high Highrise building projects. Questionnaires were distributed to professionals who were involved in the execution of in the execution of Highrise building projects. The number of these building projects were collected from Kigali Construction Urban Planning One Stop Center as this department is assigned the responsibility of approving or disapproving construction project plans before the execution phase starts to ensure that they compliance with regulations. Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS) was used to analyze the collected data. The findings revealed that variations of design change , late payment to contractors, delay in decision making, delay in receiving clearances through customs for the imported materials, financial difficulties encountered by contractor are the main cause of time overrun in Highrise building while variation in the cost of construction materials, Frequent change in specifications and designs, inaccurate cost estimation , high cost of transport of construction materials and poor contact management were ranked as major cause of cost overrun. The recommendation of this study were: the funding of the project by client should always be adequate and be determined at the planning stage of the building project, The clear rules and regulations on evaluating contractors’ bids are needed and they should be used by clients and his agents in awarding contracts, The architects must select the most economical design for basic elements without compromising the quality and safety of the project such as foundations, structural frame, external cladding and roofing, Rwanda Institute of Architects (RIA) (Quantity Surveyors Chapter) should produce semi-annual journal containing cost data of construction materials in different locations of Rwanda because the techniques used to produce estimates vary according to the information available at the time of preparation.