Project Management Practices And Implementation Of Road Infrastructure Projects In Garissa County, Kenya

Abstract

The implementation of infrastructure development is significantly impacted by project management practices, which increase the risk of delays, cost overruns, contractual disputes, arbitration, and quality deviations. Some projects are completely abandoned. In lieu of this, my research aimed to determine how project management methods and practices impact project implementations. The scope was infrastructural road projects in Garissa County, Kenya. Consequently, this study was limited accordingly. Financial disbursements, monitoring and control mechanisms, risk management and stakeholder participation were the independent variables implicated as project management techniques. As a dependent variable, execution of infrastructural projects in Garissa was considered. Therefore, the research objectives were; (i) to determine how financial disbursement practices by road agencies affect implementation of road infrastructure projects in Garissa County, Kenya; (i) to determine how risk management practices by road agencies affect implementation of road infrastructure projects in Garissa County, Kenya; (iii) to determine how monitoring and evaluation practices by road agencies affect implementation of road infrastructure projects in Garissa County, Kenya; and (iv) to determine how stakeholder engagement practices by road agencies affect the implementation of road infrastructure projects in Garissa County, Kenya. For this investigation, descriptive survey research design was utilized. The target population included 162 officials (inspectors, engineers, procurement officials, and site agents/project managers) working with road agencies and road projects within Garissa County, and civic leaders who represented county residents. The entire population was utilized for data collection. For data collection, questionnaires whose reliability was evaluated using Cronbach's method were utilized. Upon analysis, the questionnaire data were sorted and keyed into SPSS Version 23, and descriptive and inferential statistics were generated accordingly. Using the Shapiro-Wick test to determine normality, Pearson Correlation as well as linear regression were chosen to establish relationship between study variables. The regression model was evaluated using the F-test at a confidence level of 95% following analysis of variance. Monitoring and evaluation practices (r=0.825) had the greatest influence on successful execution of infrastructural projects undertaken by the County Government of Garissa and respective road agencies within Garissa, followed by financial disbursement practices (r=0.787), stakeholder engagement practices (r=0.772), and risk management practices(r=0.691). Therefore, it was determined that execution of road infrastructure projects within Garissa County was, in a significant way, influenced by project management techniques. Before initiating projects, it is recommended that project implementers involve stakeholders more in planning and budgeting, employ more consultants to lead M&E, develop a comprehensive capacity building plan for the M&E team, and conduct adequate risk analysis to estimate probability of risk occurrence and reoccurrence, and its impact. Government is also advised to amend the Kenya Public Procurement and Disposal Act (2015) to discourage underquoting and front-loading by contractors, develop policies to diversify sources of funding for road agencies, and policies to shield contractors from lenders' high interest rates.