ARBA MINCH UNIVERSITY

INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
School Of Civil Engineering

Construction Technology and Management Post Graduate

Program
Research Methods (CENG 6902)
Assignment-1

CAUSES OF DELAY IN CONSTRUCTION PROJECTS

IN BANGLADESH

Prepared by; Belay Girma

ID NO: PEAMIT/004/11

Submitted to; Dr. Alemayehu

April 2019

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Table of Contents
Abstract;.................................................................................................................1

1. Introduction......................................................................................................2

1.1 Background of the study......................................................................................2

2. Problem Statement.............................................................................................2

3. OBJECTIVES.......................................................................................................4

3.1 General Objective..............................................................................................4

3.2 Specific Objectives.............................................................................................4

4. Research question...............................................................................................4

5. Literature review................................................................................................4

6. Research Methodology.........................................................................................5

6.1 Research approach (design)..................................................................................5

6.2 Source of data..................................................................................................5

6.3 Data collection instrument...................................................................................6

6.4 Sampling Method..............................................................................................6

6.5 Method of data analysis .....................................................................................6

7. Ethics...............................................................................................................7

8. Communicating the result.....................................................................................7

9. Significance of the research...................................................................................7

10. WORK PLAN...................................................................................................8

11. BUDGET PLAN.................................................................................................9

REFERENCES..........................................................................................................10

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Abstract;
Construction delay is a common problem worldwide, which is considered as one of the main
reasons for project failure. Bangladesh construction industry is no exception. This thesis
proposal will investigate the main causes of delay in large building construction projects in
Bangladesh. A questionnaire survey will be employed to determine the causes of delay from
owners, consultants, and contractors of large building construction projects. For data analysis
importance index analysis technique will be used to identify most important causes of delay.

Keywords: Construction Delay, Bangladesh, Developing Countries, Important Index

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1. Introduction
1.1 Background of the study
Construction project delay can be defined by as “the time overrun either beyond
completion date specified in a contract, or beyond the date that the parties agreed upon
for delivery of a project” Assaf, S.A. and Al-Hejji, S. (2006). It has significant
consequences as it would affect project performance Kikwasi, G. (2013). For project
owners, delay means loss of revenue; as for contractors it means loss of money Haseeb,
M., Bibi, A. and Rabbani, W. (2011). Delay also creates caustic situation between owner
and contractor such as dispute, ligation, arbitration, and some time total abandonment of
the project Haseeb, M., Bibi, A. and Rabbani, W. (2011) et al.
Bangladesh is a developing country with high investment in construction industry,
particularly commercial, residential, and multipurpose building projects etc., Almost 2.4
million people are working in this industry, which contributes about 20% to the national
GDP Jabeen, H. (2013). Delay in delivering projects has serious drawback in this industry
Haseeb, M., Bibi, A. and Rabbani, W. (2011). However, very few researches have been
conducted to analyze the causes of delay in construction projects in Bangladesh. Salam
et al. studied the causes of delay, but focused in residential projects in Bangladesh.
Ahsan and Gunawan (2010), focused on identifying the factors of time and cost
performance in infrastructure development projects funded by Asian Development Bank
(ADB) in several Asian countries including Bangladesh. Therefore, this paper aims to
identify the causes of delay of building construction projects in Bangladesh, and the
important causes of delay in large building projects.

2. Problem Statement
Construction delay is a common problem worldwide, which is considered as one of the main
reasons for project failure. Bangladesh construction industry is no exception.

Several articles have discussed causes of delay in construction projects in numerous manners;
some studies identified the main causes of delay in several countries and various project
types, while other studies discussed the delay analysis methods and the proposed ways to
mitigate it. In the study of Assaf and Al-Hejji 2006 construction delay was defined as “the

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time overrun either beyond completion date specified in a contract, or beyond the date that
the parties agreed upon for delivery of a project.” Delay was also defined as an “act or event
which extends required time to perform or complete work of the contract manifests itself as
additional days of work” by Zack 2003.

DELAY CAUSES IN CONSTRUCTION PROJECTS

Many reasons can be identified for different sources in delay problem. These reasons are:

1. Design related delay:

a. Possible change in initial design.

b. Complexity of the project.

2. Construction related delay:

a. Variations and claims.

b. Change of scope of project

3. Financial/ economic- related delay:

a. Financial ability of the owner

b. Not enough funds

4. Management/ Administrative- related delay:

a. Unavailability of suitable management team.

b. Unspecialized subcontractors.
c. Lack of project management.
d. Lack of experience of the consultant
e. Lack of experience of the contractor

5. Regulations and code- related key delays:

a) New legal instructions or rules.

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3. OBJECTIVES
3.1 General Objective
The general objective of the study is to investigate the causes for delay in construction
projects in Bangladesh.

3.2 Specific Objectives

 To study the owner related causes of delay in construction project in
Bangladesh.
 To understand the contractor related causes of delay in construction
project in Bangladesh.
 To assess the contractor related causes of delay in construction project
in Bangladesh.
 To study and analyze the major causes of delay in construction project

4. Research question
 What are owner related courses of for the construction delay in
Bangladesh?
 What are contactors related causes of construction delay in Bangladesh?
 What are consultant related causes for construction delay in Bangladesh?

5. Literature review
Construction industry is a multi-party business and numerous complexities turned it high-risk
trade sector Semple, C., Hartman, F.T. and Jergeas, G. (1994). This industry deals with
various contract documents to ensure all parties agreement. The attributes of construction
delay are well known but its fundamental factors and subsequent impacts are not understood
by the experts. For this reason, many construction projects in different parts of the world are
suffering by schedule overrun which subsequently increases the project cost and reduces
profit Semple, C., Hartman, F.T. and Jergeas, G. (1994) et al. Delay may start from

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feasibility study and end by the delivery of the project. The key players, ie owner, A/E or
consultant, and contractor, are involved in schedule overrun of construction projects Assaf,
S.A. and Al-Hejji, S. (2006) et al. Study by Assaf and Al-Hejji (2006), identified 73 causes
of delay in construction project of the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia. They include:
shortage of labors, unqualified work-force, inadequate contractor’s experience, difficulties in
financing project by contractor, ineffective planning and scheduling of project by contractor,
low productivity of labors, delay in progress payments by owner etc. are noteworthy.
Another study by Fugar, F.D.K. and Agyakwah-baah, A.B. (2010), identified 32 factors of
delay in building construction projects in Ghana. They include: monthly payments
difficulties, poor estimation of project time and cost, incompetent site management, material
shortage etc. ere Study by Long, N., Ogunlana, S., Quang, T. and Lam, K. (2004) et al, on
large construction projects in Vietnam identified 62 causes of delay, which were grouped into
four categories, ie organizational, project attributes, coordination, and environmental”.

Study by Mohammed, K. and Isah, A. (2012), on the causes of delay in construction

projects in Nigeria identified 43 causes of delay frequently encountered in Nigerian
construction industry. Among those, inappropriate planning, lack of communication, errors in
design, shortage of resources supply etc. were top ranked factors, to lengthen the project
schedule.

After reviewing various literatures, this study identified 109 causes of delay, which are group
into nine major factors: financial; owner; contactor; consultant; manpower and resources;
project; managerial; rules and regulation; and environment.

6. Research Methodology
6.1 Research approach (design)
A survey research design will be followed for the study.

6.2 Source of data

Both primary and secondary sources of data will be used for the study.

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 6.3 Data collection instrument
Primary sources of data will be collected through questioner and interview and also
secondary sources of data related to the title will be gathered and reviewed from articles on
causes of delay in construction projects published in various technical journals. The
questionnaire will have two measures, i.e. frequency and severity of the causes of delay.
Both frequency and severity will be defined in various categories by 1 to 4 point scale.
In frequency, the sample size will be asked whether the factor of delay is found in rare,
sometimes, often, or always, which are related to 1, 2, 3, and 4 respectively. On the other
hand, severity of the delay factors will also asked to the sample size in terms of little,
moderate, great, or extreme and the point scale is similar to that of frequency (i.e. 1 to 4).

6.4 Sampling Method

The targeted area for this study are Sylhet, the north eastern part of Bangladesh will be
selected. Where the trend of population growth is very high (i.e. 8.25%) and 41%
buildings have been constructed in last 10 years. Accordingly, the construction rate of
building projects in Sylhet region is very high and it needs greater concern about the
construction management system. Non-probability sampling method will be employed to
determine the sample size.

6.5 Method of Data analysis

The data will be analyzed by four methods, which are ranking and categorizing of the
causes of delay by frequency and severity indices; classifying the importance of the
causes by color matrix; establishing the relationship among the parties by Spearman’s
rank correlation; and analyzing the variance of responses by Kruskal-Wallis test.
Ranking and categorizing of the causes of delay were performed with the equations
used by Assaf and Al-Hejji (2006) which was conducted to find the causes of delay in
Saudi Arabian construction projects. The following equations calculate frequency index
(FI), and severity index (SI) of each factor of delay.

Frequency Index (%) = (1)

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 Severity Index (%) = (2)

Where, ‘a’ is the weight (i.e. 1, 2, 3 or 4) of any response, ‘n’ is the number
of respondents, and ‘N’ is the total number of responses in regards of
frequency of the individual factor of delay. Based on the frequency index
and its range shown in table 1, each factor was then ranked.

7. Ethics
The research will be conducted under the consideration of construction discipline and the
study will not be connected with a religious and social perspective.

8. Communicating the result

The study will use the importance index analysis for data analysis and furthermore, Kruskal-
Wallis test will be used to test the significant of variation among the three group of
respondents, i.e. owners, consultants and contractors.

9. Significance of the research

Construction project management is a relatively new discipline and has evolved for the
purpose of improving efficiency in the construction industry. A study on project delays is
relevant because it touches on the very essence of construction project management which
aims at improving construction industry efficiency by investigating the causes of delay in
construction industry. To improve efficiency, it is necessary to understand what are the
causes for delay in construction that are related to owner,contractor and consultant. A study
on project delays is therefore useful in creating an insight into the understanding of the
factors that contribute to time efficiency. It is also expected to expand the theory of
construction project management, particularly, in the area of project time management. This
will ultimately contribute to efficient management of construction resources.

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10. WORK PLAN
No. Activity Duration Remark

1 Research Design / January 1 - January 15

Methodology

2 Develop Questionnaire, January16 – January30

review and approval

3 Data Collection including February - March

Literature review

4 Data Analysis April 1 –April 20

5 Write up Research Report April 21 –May 10

6 Review and Revision May 11 – May 30

7 Design, Translate and Print June 1 – June 20

8 Advocacy, Communication June 21 – June 30

activities

Required Items Total Cost in ETB (Birr)

1. Per diem 5,000.00

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 2. Transportation 2,000.00

3. Supplies (materials) including stationery 5,000.00

4. Services 2,000.00

5. Others (contingency) 3,000.00

Total 17,000.00 ETB

11. BUDGET PLAN

REFERENCES
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International Journal of Project Management, 24(4), 349–357.

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2/ Kikwasi, G. (2013) Causes and effects of delay and disruptions in construction projects in
Tanzania. Australasian Journal of Construction Economics and Building Conference
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