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Vol. 1 Issue 3, October 2016

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Int. J. Civil Engg. Conc.Structs 2016 Hatkar K B and Hedaoo N A, 2016

DELAY ANALYSIS BY USING RELATIVEIMPORTANCE INDEX METHOD IN

INFRASTRUCTURE PROJECTSHatkar K B1* and Hedaoo N A1

*Corresponding Author: Hatkar K B,[email protected]

One of the most common problems in the infrastructure project is delay. Delay in a constructionproject can be defined as the late completion of works as compared to the planned schedule orcontract schedule. Construction projects can be delayed due to so many factors. It may be due toconsultant, contractor, material, equipment, f inance etc related factors. The aim of this paper toidentifying the causes and effects of delays in infrastructure projects (road, bridge and flyover). Thishas been achieved by undertaking a critical analysis of the literature and carrying out a questionnairessurvey. The twenty questionnaire surveys were completed by taking interviews of the respondent, i.e.,consultants and contractors who works on infrastructure projects. Then the causes of delay assessedusing Relative Importance Index (RII) so as to rank the factors. Also use the Spearman’s Rank CorrelationCoefficient test to determine significant correlation between contractors and consultants perspective.The most significant factors of construction delays were identif ied as: (1) Local political interference;(2) Inadequate fund allocation; (3) Improper project planning and scheduling; (4) Delay in progresspayments by client; (5) Escalation of material prices. Also major effects of delay were identif ied thatare (1) Time overrun; (2) Cost overrun; (3) Disputes. The results also include the most effective methodsfor minimizing construction delays.

Keywords: Infrastructure projects, Delay, Relative importance index, Spearman’s rank, Correlation coefficient

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Int. J. Civil Engg. Conc.Structs 2016

1 College of Engineering, Pune, India.

IntroductionThe construction industry is a very importantsector for the development and economicgrowth of developing country (Haseeb et al.,2011). A construction project is commonlyacknowledged as successful, when it iscompleted on time, within budget and inaccordance with the specifications (MuratGunduz et al., 2013). Over many years, delay

has been a popular topic in constructionmanagement research, and various delaystudies have been carried out for differentpurposes (Abdullah AlSehaimi et al., 2013).Infrastructure projects in India are infamousfor delays and cost overruns. Very fewprojects get delivered within time and withincost. The delays and cost overruns havebecome hallmark of infrastructure projects

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in India. Bandra-Worli Sea Link was plannedas a Rs. 300 Crore project to be completedby 2004; but its actual cost is Rs. 1,600 crorealong with five years delay. Indeed, very fewprojects get delivered in time and on cost.Delays on construction projects are auniversal phenomenon. They are almostalways accompanied by cost and timeoverruns (Sadi Assaf and Sadiq Al-Hejji,2006). Project delays have a debilitating effecton all parties (owner, contractor, andconsultant) to a contract in terms of a growthin adversarial relationships, distrust,litigation, arbitration, cash-flow problems,and a general feeling of apprehensiontowards each other (Abd. Majld and RonaldMcCaffe, 1998). Several factors can contributeto delays on a project and analyzing thecauses of delays is an essential task forameliorating any potential conflicts or claims(Muhwezi and Otim, 2014). The study is toidentify the major causes of delays inconstruction projects in constructionindustry through a survey and to find theperception of the different parties towardsthe problem, what their responsibilities areand how they carry them out. It is expectedthat this study will provide some goodempirical data on the extent and type ofdelays in construction projects.

Literature ReviewSeveral articles have discussed causes ofdelay in construction projects in numerousmanners; some studies identified the maincauses of delay in several countries andvarious project types, while other studiesdiscussed the delay analysis methods andthe proposed ways to mitigate it. The study

of Baldwin et al. (1971) was carried out todetermine the causes of delay in theconstruction process in the United States.Mansfield et al. (1992) which investigated thecauses of delay and cost overruns that affectcompleted highway projects in Nigeria.Murat Gunduz et al. (2013) identified thetotal 83 different delay factors and addressedthe most significant factors and groups ofcauses of delays through ranking results.Sadi Assaf et al. (2006) identified seventythree causes of schedule delay exist in Saudiconstruction projects. They found that themost important causes of schedule delay asseen by contractors were: delay in progresspayments by owner, late approving designdocuments by owner, change orders byowner during construction. Abd El-Razeket al. (2008) identified the thirty two causesof delay in construction projects in Egypt.The overall results indicated that the mostimportant causes are: financing by contractorduring construction, delays in contractorspayment by owner and non utilization ofprofessional contractual management.Muhwezi et al. (2014) studied the effects ofdelays on building construction projects inUganda, using Kampala as the case studyso as appropriate mitigation measures areput in place to ameliorate the effects of delay.Abdullah Al Sehaimi et al. (2013) studiedsimple analysis and evaluation of thefindings and recommendations of publishedstudies of construction delay in developingcountries.

Research MethodologyThe research methodology will explain howthe objectives of this study can be achieved.Firstly, questionnaire was divided into two

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main parts. Part A includes the details of therespondents and organizations in order toget the information about the respondents details and organization as well. Part Bincludes three sub-sections, Section Iincludes the questionnaire of factors causingdelay, Section II includes the questionnaireof effects of delay and section III includesthe questionnaire of method of minimizingdelay.

In Section I, seventy six factors causingdelay were identified from in-depthliterature studies and discussing with someconstruction practitioners. These factors thengrouped into eight major groups which areMaterial related delays, Labour relateddelays, Equipment related delays,Contractor related delays, Consultant relateddelays, Client related delays, Finance relateddelays and External related delays. Materialrelated group includes ten factors which are:Shortage of construction material in market,Late delivery of materials, Changes inmaterial specification during construction,Poor procurement of construction materials,Imported of construction materials, Delay inmanufacturing materials, Unreliablesuppliers, Damage of sorted materials, Poorquality of construction materials andEscalation of material prices. Labour relatedgroup includes eight factors which are:Strike, Labour supply, Personal conflictsamong labour, Labour productivity,Shortage of skill labour, Slow mobilizationof labour, Low motivation and Absenteeism.Equipment related group includes sevenfactors which are: Insufficient numbers ofequipment, Equipment allocation problem,Inadequate modern equipment, Improper

equipment, Frequent equipment breakdown,Slow mobilization of equipment andShortage of equipment parts. Contractorrelated group includes thirteen factors whichare: Inadequate contractor experience,Inappropriate construction methods, Poorsite management and supervision, Sitemanagement, Improper technical studies bythe contractor during the bidding stage,Improper project planning and scheduling,Incompetent project team, Delays in sub-contractors work, Poor communication andcoordination with other parties, Rework dueto errors, Inaccurate time estimate,Inaccurate cost estimate and Obsoletetechnology. Consultant related groupincludes eight factors which are: Lack ofexperience of consultant in constructionprojects, Poor design and delays in design,Delay in approving major changes in thescope of work by consultant, Slow responseand poor inspection, Inaccurate siteinvestigation, Incomplete drawing/detaildesign, Poor communication andcoordination with other parties andInadequate project management assistance.Client related group includes ten factorswhich are: Slow decision making by client,Change orders by the owner during theconstruction, Delay in progress payments,Conflicts between joint-ownership, Lack ofexperience of client in construction, Clientinterference, Delay in site delivery, Lack ofcapable representative, Lack ofcommunication and coordination andImproper project feasibility study. Financerelated group includes seven factors whichare: Inadequate fund allocation, Highinterest rate, Monthly payment difficulties,Delay payment to suppliers/subcontractors,

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Unreasonable constraints to client, Client’sfinancial difficulties. Finance related groupincludes thirteen factors which are: Localpolitical interference, Weather condition,Changes in government regulations andlaws, Loss of time by traffic control andrestriction at job site, Natural disasters(flood, hurricane, earthquake), Accidentsduring construction, Unexpected geologicalcondition (Such as high water table, etc.),Inflation/Prices fluctuation, Delay inproviding services from utilities (such aswater, electricity), Slow site clearance,Conflict, war and public enemy, Problemwith neighbors and Unforeseen groundcondition.

Section II of B questionnaire included thesix effects of delays which are: Time overrun,Cost overrun, Dispute, Arbitration,Litigation and Total abandonment.

Section III of B questionnaire included thetotal thirty two methods of minimizingconstruction delays which are: Competent DCapable project manager, Ensure adequateand available source of finance,Multidisciplinary/competent project team,Availability of resources, Commitment toprojects, Adopting a new approach tocontract award procedure by giving lessweight to prices and more weight to thecapabilities and past performance ofcontractors, Complete and accurate projectfeasibility study and site investigation,Acceleration of site clearance,Comprehensive contract documentation,Frequent progress meeting, Awarding bidsto the right/experience consultant andcontractor, Use up to date technologyutilization, Use of experienced

subcontractors and suppliers, Completeand proper design at the right time,Competent personnel of consultant/designer, Competent and capable of client’srepresentative, Site management andsupervision, Use of proper and modernconstruction equipment, Proper projectplanning and scheduling, Accurate initialcost estimates, Use of appropriateconstruction methods, Proper materialprocurement, Effective strategic planning,Systematic control mechanism, Perform apreconstruction planning of project tasksand resources needs, Absence ofbureaucracy, Allocation of sufficient timeand money at the design phase, Accurateinitial time estimates, Frequentcoordination between the parties involved,Developing human resources in theconstruction industry through propertraining, Clear information andcommunication channels and Projectmanagement assistance.

These questionnaires were based on theLikert Likert’s scale of five ordinalmeasures from 1 to 5 (very low effect to veryhigh effect) according to level ofcontributing.

Data Analysis andDiscussionThe procedure used in analyzing of data wasaimed at establishing the relative importanceof the various factors that contribute tocauses of delays, effects of delays andmethods of minimizing construction delays.There are three steps used in analyzing thedata: calculating the relative importanceindex; ranking of each factors based on

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relative importance index, and to determinedegree of correlation on ranking the factorsamong the two groups.

Relative Importance IndexThe contribution of each of the factors tooverall delays was examined and theranking of the attributes in terms of theircriticality as perceived by the respondentswas done by use of Relative ImportanceIndex (RII) which was computed usingequation and the results of the analysis arepresented in Tables 1 to 3. To determine theranking of different factors from theviewpoint of contractors and consultants, theRelative Importance Index (RII) wascomputed using RII Equation (Abdalla Odehand Hussein Battaineh, 2002; Murat Gunduzet al., 2013; and Muhwezi and Otim, 2014).

RII = W/(A x N)

where

W = Weightage given to each factor by therespondents

A = Highest weight (i.e., 5 in this case)

N = the total number of respondents

Table 1 shows the ranking of top tenfactors that causes delay from seventy sixdelay factors. That means these ten factorscausing delay are more contributing into theinfrastructure projects.

Table 2 shows the ranking of variouseffects of delay. Top effect indicate very highfrequency of occurrence in infrastructureprojects.

Bar Chart 1 shows the time overrun is thetop most significant effect of delay among

Table 1: Most Important Factors Causing Delays

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six effects of delay. It also indicates the costoverrun and disputes are also major effectsof delay.

Table 3 shows the ranking of the relativeimportance of top ten methods ofminimizing construction delays from totalthirty two methods. It indicates that these tenmethods are more effective methods forminimizing construction delay.

The Spearman’s Rank CorrelationCoefficient TestThe Spearman rank correlation is used toknow whether there is disagreement oragreement between the two groups onranking factors. This test is used to find andcompare how well the contractors andconsultants agree on the relative

Table 2: The Common Effects of Delays

Table 3: Methods of Minimizing Construction Delays

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importances of the delay causes. A perfectpositive correlation (rs = +1) indicates thatthe two samples rank each objectidentically, whereas a perfect negativecorrelation (rs = -1) indicates that the ranksof the two samples have an exactly inverserelationship. It might be said then thatsample estimates of correlation close tounity in magnitude imply good correlation,whereas values near 0 indicate low or nocorrelation (Sadi Assaf et al., 1995; Sadi

Assaf and Sadiq Al-Hejji, 2006; andAbdullah AlSehaimi et al., 2013).

In order to determine there is significantcorrelation of the ranking of factors thatcauses delays, effects of delays, and methodsof minimizing construction delays betweencontractors and consultants perspective, theSpearman’s Rank correlation coefficient wascomputed as following equations and theresults of the analysis are presented in Table4 (Abdalla Odeh and Hussein Battaineh,

Figure 1: Effects of Delays

Table 4: Results of Spearman’s Rank Correlation Coefficient Test

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2002; Abd El-Razek et al., 2008; and IbrahimMahamid et al., 2012):

rs = 1 – [(6d2)/(N3 – N)]

rs = Spearman’s Rank correlationcoefficient

d = the difference in ranking between thecontractors and consultants

N = the number of variables

This calculated value of rs is comparedwith critical value of rs from the standardtable for n samples.

Null hypothesis: Ho: No significantagreement in the rankings among the twogroups.

Alternative hypothesis: H1: Agreement inrankings among the two groups.

Compare the value against the criticalvalue. Reject the null hypothesis, if rs isgreater than the critical value.

Table 4 shows the results of tests ofSpearman’s Rank Correlation Coefficient fordifferent groups of construction delay. ThisTable 4 indicates Material, Contractor,Client, Finance and External related delaygroups agree on the ranking given by bothcontractors and consultants.

Contractor related group causing delayand finance related group causing delay arethe top most significant group that

Figure 2: Groups of Causes of Delays

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contributed to causes of delays among eightgroups shown in bar Chart 2.

ConclusionIn a construction project where time trulyequals money, the management of time iscritical, thus predicting the likelihood ofschedule delay may play a key role towardsproject success. There existed a need todevelop a probabilistic schedule delayanalysis model in construction projects as adecision support tool for contractors beforethe bidding stage.

From total seventy six factors causingdelays, top ten most important factors havebeen identified which are: Local politicalinterference, Inadequate fund allocation,Improper project planning and schedulingby contractor, Delay in progress paymentsby client, Escalation of material prices,Weather condition, Delay in payment tosuppliers/subcontractors, Insufficientnumbers of equipment, Incompletedrawing/detail design and Natural disasters(flood, earthquake, etc.).

Total seventy six factors causing delaywere identified and grouped into eightmajor groups. The major delays groups wereidentified are: Contractor related delays andFinance related delays.

The major effects of delays have beenidentified which are: Time overrun, Costoverrun and Disputes.

From total thirty two methods ofminimizing construction delays, the top teneffective methods have been identifiedwhich are: Competent/Capable projectmanager, Perform a preconstruction planning

of project tasks and resources needs,Accurate initial cost estimates, Ensureadequate and available source of finance,Multidisciplinary/competent project team,Use of proper and modern constructionequipment, Proper project planning andscheduling, Use of appropriate constructionmethods, Use of experienced subcontractorsand suppliers and Site management andsupervision.

Recommendations toMinimize DelaysBased on this study, some recommendationsare given as follows:

We divide the recommendations intothree groups:

1) Recommendations for the clients,

2) Recommendations for the consultants,and

3) Recommendations for the contractors.

Recommendations for the Clients• Appropriate funding levels should

always be determined at the planningstage of the project so that regularpayment should be paid to contractors forwork done. Therefore, clients shouldwork closely with the financing bodiesand institutions to release the payment onschedule.

• Clients should not interfere frequentlyduring the execution and keep makingmajor changes to the requirements. Thiscan cause inordinate delays in the project.

• While selecting the contractors, clientshave to make sure that the contractors arenot selected based only on the lowest bid.

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The selected contractor must havesufficient experience, technical capability,financial capability, and sufficientmanpower to execute the project.

• Communication and Co-ordinationshould be proper with the other parties.

• Site should be delivered as soon aspossible after project is awarded.

Recommendations for theConsultants• All working drawings must be clearly

drawn indicating all the dimensions andscale so as to avoid ambiguity duringconstruction.

• Avoid the redesign of the project oncesubmitted.

• Accurate site investigation should bedone in order to avoid errors in design.

• Establish control system to control andevaluate variation in orders initiated byowner.

• Consultants should prepare and approvedrawings on time.

Recommendations for theContractors• Contractors should not take up the job in

which they do not have sufficientexpertise.

• Development of good system for sitemanagement and proper supervisiondevelops project planning andscheduling.

• Initially calculate optimistic duration toexecute the project.

• In order to improve contractors’managerial skills there is need for

continuous work training programs toupdate their knowledge and be familiarwith project management techniques andprocesses.

• Contractors should appoint experiencedand reputed subcontractors.

• Contractors must plan their workproperly and provide the entire scheduleto the clients

• Proper work as per specification to avoidrework due to error.

• Contractors must make sure they have asound financial backing.

Recommendations for FutureStudiesMore research on construction delays shouldbe done in order to develop guidelines, ormethods of minimizing construction delays.Furthermore, similar research should beperformed in various provinces or cities ofIndia. In order to providing more reliabledata it is required to carry out studies foreach specific type of construction projects,including highways, dam constructionprojects, utilities, etc. Surely, detailedsurveys required to be performed to find outcash flow problems on delays in constructionprojects.

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Mobarak A M (2008), “Causes of Delayin Building Construction Projects inEgypt”, Journal of ConstructionEngineering and Management, November,pp. 831-841, ASCE.

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5. Ali Tarhini, Muhamad Fakih, MahirArzoky and Takwa Tarhini (2015),“Designing Guidelines to DiscoverCauses of Delays in ConstructionProjects: The Case of Lebanon”,International Business Research, Vol. 8,No. 6 (Canadian Center of Science andEducation).

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15. Sadi A Assaf, Mohammed AI-Khalil andMuhammad AI-Hazmi Assaf (1995),“Causes of Delay in Large BuildingConstruction Projects”, Journal ofManagement in Engineering, March/April,pp. 45-50, ASCE.

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