Contractors perspective for critical factors of cost overrun in highway projects of Sindh, Pakistan

Abstract

Construction industry of Pakistan is creating a number of opportunities in employment as well as plays a role model for economy development of the country. This construction industry has a serious issue of cost overrun in all construction projects especially in construction of highway projects. Cost overrun is a serious and critical issue in construction of highway projects which gives negative impact to construction practitioners because it is not only cross the approved budget but also approved time of the project. The main objective of this study is to find out critical factors causing cost overrun in highway projects of Sindh according to contractors’ perspectives. Deep literature review was carried out and a total of 64 factors of cost overrun were identified. To achieve the objective, a questionnaire was designed and distributed among 16 selected respondents who have more than 20 years of experience in construction of highway projects. The results from analysis found that most critical factors of cost overrun in the order of importance include financial and cash flow difficulties faced by contractor, frequent changes in design, changes in price of materials, poor planning by client, change in scope of project, change in specification of materials and delay in taking decisions. This study will assist contractors to narrow down some of the critical factors that would lead to cost overrun, and therefore be prepared with the ways to mitigate these problems in construction of highway projects of Sindh province.