Delivery Of Public Projects Research Articles

Does affirmative action in politics hinder performance? Evidence from India

This paper examines the consequence of affirmative action for a “middle” ranked group on equity and the leader's overall performance or “efficiency.” The literature on electoral quotas is invested in the equity question for disadvantaged groups, but is mostly silent on this issue. We use a randomized electoral quota for an intermediately ranked caste group (OBCs) in a large state in India to show that overall, such a quota does not affect delivery of public projects, or redistribute projects away from disadvantaged groups (SC/STs). Moreover, we show that when the group is large, the quota may in fact improve leader's performance. The improvement in overall performance does not come at a cost of lower allocation to the most disadvantaged group. We argue and provide suggestive evidence that when the group is large, such a quota for the group increases within-group electoral competition in villages. The result highlights that “efficiency” concerns regarding affirmative action may need reevaluation. It further justifies the targeting of electoral quota policy in India towards jurisdictions where the group is numerous.

Influence of Contractor Selection Criteria on Critical Success Factors of Public Project Delivery in Abuja

There are so many contractors that are not technically and managerially competent. This makes contractor selection processes an onerous task to be performed by the client. Yet, without a proper and accurate method for selecting the most appropriate contractor, the performance of the project will be affected denying clients value for money. Therefore, the study assessed the Influence of contractor selection criteria on critical success factor of public project delivery in Abuja, Nigeria using self-administered structured questionnaires to construction professionals. It was discovered that experience, financial capability, and technical capability are widely considered criteria in the selection process while all the critical success factors for project delivery are very much crucial and that procurement related factors, project stakeholders’ related factors, and daily site factors are essential factors to effective project delivery. The study concluded that there exists a significant relationship between the factors considered in selection of contractors and the criteria success factors. Based on the relati0nship between selection criteria and success factors, there is the need to adopt the selection criteria for each individual project based on project characteristics, client characteristics and external environment for effective project delivery. It is necessary to make good assessment of the technical capacity and experience of the contractors when considering the costfactor for project delivery.

Evaluation of Site Management Practices for Building Projects Delivery Adopted by Indigenous Contractors in Lagos and Ondo States, Nigeria

The research focuses on the construction site management practices and the challenges that impede such practices in Ondo and Lagos states of Nigeria respectively with the view of minimizing waste and improve sustainability concept on public project delivery. The research survey targeted Architects, Quantity Surveyors, Builders and Civil Engineers affiliated with indigenous contracting firms through the administration of well-structured questionnaires. A simple random sampling technique was adopted in choosing the research respondents. The collected data were analyzed using both descriptive and inferential statistics. Out of 301 questionnaires distributed, only 135 questionnaires were returned and analyzed with 44.85% response rate. In-depth interview were also conducted on some selected site workers (labors) to elicit their views on the level of awareness and adoption of site management practices in their various sites. The results shows that minutes writing, resource leveling, cash flow management, proper payroll and daily work report are the five (5) topmost site management practices adopted on construction sites in the study area. The study also shows that respondents are highly aware about the site management practices. The result further shows that Lack of standardization in equipment management, plant hiring/purchasing problems, lack of on-site assistance, wrong curing procedures, ineffective communication practices, are the five major challenges that impede site management practices in the study area. Analysis of the transcribed interview shows that the site workers (labour) aware about the site management practices but are rarely followed judiciously. The research seeks the opinion view of construction professionals in the study area which may not be generalize to all other construction sites in south-western geopolitical zone of Nigeria; construction site workers needs to be kept abreast of the site management practices by organizing regular training for all cadre of site workers. The implication for practice is that investing in training will improve productivity, loyalty, minimizing of waste to the environment and increase contractors profitability. The study seeks to support the concept of buttressing the awareness on practicing adequate site management strategies on construction sites rather than relying on theoretical concept on the subject matter. It supports the proposition that adequate awareness of these practices will improve construction project performance.

Assessment of tendering processes for construction projects and it’s effect on public projects delivery in Nigeria

This study assessed the tendering report processes and their effect on public project delivery in Nigeria. The study was carried out at the Federal University of Technology Owerri, where ongoing and completed projects in the institution were assessed. The study is a descriptive survey employed questionnaires, interviews, and documentary records as a research instrument. The sample size comprised of 50 procurement professional and public projects experts in various selected units in the institution as respondents. The research objectives were analyzed using descriptive statistics of frequency as a tool that was computed using Microsoft Excel and presented in the form of charts and histograms. Qualitative data collected from interviews with respondents were recorded by using tape recorders and then transcribed. The outcome of the study reveals that the current tendering process in Nigeria has vulnerabilities that can be exploited to negatively impact public project delivery. The study recommends that there should be strict adherence to global standards in contractor selection and this should be based on objectivity, flexibility, reliability, and adaptability of the chosen criteria as they apply to projects peculiarities.

Combining bottom-up monitoring and top-down accountability: A field experiment on managing corruption in Uganda

Citizen monitoring of government performance is often ineffective at improving performance, perhaps because information from monitoring does not make it far enough up in the chain of bureaucracy where the authority to punish public mismanagement rests. In a field experiment, we test whether delivering regular, officially certified reports derived from citizen monitoring and describing specific problems with the implementation of public projects to high-level bureaucrats charged with overseeing the projects improved their delivery. We do not find evidence that this treatment improved the delivery of public projects. Follow-up interviews revealed that the targeted officials seemed to avoid knowledge of the monitoring, perhaps to avoid taking on the responsibility that would come from such knowledge. However, the treatment also provided information to citizens about what they should expect from local governments, which instigated several direct complaints that the targeted officials did not ignore. Based on this alternative channel, which we did not anticipate, we conclude that citizen monitoring must be deployed in ways that make knowledge of problems undeniable for authorities who have a responsibility to address them.

Diffuse Responsibility Undermines Public Oversight: A Field Experiment at Bwindi National Park, Uganda

Bureaucratic corruption persists in many settings because responsibility for public projects is diffuse, as is responsibility for oversight. We hypothesized that the dissemination of citizen monitoring in ways that give individual authorities specific knowledge of mismanagement would improve the delivery of public projects by activating specific responsibility to correct problems. Working with the Uganda Wildlife Authority, we implemented a field experiment that involved citizen monitoring of a national park revenue-sharing program and the delivery of reports about the implementation status of community projects to the highest-ranking administrative official responsible for oversight. Counter to our expectations, we did not find evidence that the dissemination of reports improved the delivery of revenue-sharing projects. Follow-up interviews found that the targeted officials did not use the information and perhaps even actively disregarded reports to avoid specific responsibility. However, the treatment also provided information to citizens about what they should expect, which instigated several public claims for accountability that officials could not ignore, prompting more aggressive oversight. Based on this alternative channel, we conclude that anti-corruption initiatives based on citizen monitoring need to make specific responsibility unavoidable for relevant officials, but that the strategies for promoting specific responsibility need further consideration.

Public sector’s perspective on implementing public – private partnership (PPP) policy in Ghana and Hong Kong

PurposeThe public sector plays a critical role in the successful implementation of public–private partnership (PPP) projects. Thus, there is a need to holistically explore the public sector’s view on the implementation practices of PPP. This paper aims to explore and compare the public sector’s views on PPP practices in Ghana and Hong Kong.Design/methodology/approachSemi-structured interviews were conducted with PPP practitioners of senior authority in public institutions in both Ghana and Hong Kong. The interviews covered critical issues of PPP implementation practices such as motivations for engaging in PPP, success criteria/indicators, critical success factors (CSFs), external stakeholder management and training and education in PPPs.FindingsThe findings show that quick delivery of public projects and private sector efficiency are the reasons considered by both groups of interviewees. On the success criteria, interviewees from both jurisdictions mentioned user satisfaction, budget, time and quality. The CSFs mentioned by both groups include capacity building and training, project viability, proper planning and good feasibility studies. Sensitization programs, including open forums and community meetings, were mentioned by both groups as measures for managing external stakeholders. On the training and education, both groups mentioned international study tours and organizing courses and seminars.Originality/valueThe outputs of this study offer strategies that are very useful to international private developers who are interested in PPP practices in Africa and Asia. Further, the findings contribute to the knowledge on the international best practices for PPP.

Governance Factors and Mismanagement of Public Project Funds in Ondo State, Nigeria

This paper evaluates the governance factors that contribute to the mismanagement of public project funds in Nigeria. Governance factors are variables that influence the effective usage of project fund to achieve project delivery while Public projects relate to works done by the government to satisfy public interests. The target population for this study were the public sectors in Ondo State which comprises the Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) with the total number of seventy-four (74) establishments in the state. Primary and secondary data were collected. Multiple regression analysis was used to analyse the effects of corruption, rule of law, bureaucracy and accountability as proxies for governance factors on public project delivery. Findings reveals that Public projects’ execution is fettered with different types of corrupt practices such as bribery, favour to favour, nepotism, percentage sharing and contract inflation in the study area, weaknesses and lapses were observed in bureaucracy, accountability and due process. Therefore, the study suggest among others, that there should be a political will to redress corruption dilemma, tightens accountability, due process and bureaucratic control in project environment.

Governance Factors and Mismanagement of Public Project Funds in Nigeria: A Case Study of Ondo State

This paper evaluates the governance factors that are responsible to the mismanagement of public project funds in Nigeria. Governance factors are variables that influence the effective usage of project funds to achieve project delivery while public projects relate to works done by the government to meet public interest. The target population for this study include ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs) in the public sector in Ondo State comprising a total number of seventy-four (74) establishments in the state. Primary and secondary data were collected. Principal component analysis method and explorative factor analysis were combined to extract the five relevant governance factors that impact public project delivery in the study area. Findings reveal that execution of public projects could be fettered with different types of corrupt practices such as bribery, favour-to-favour, nepotism, percentage sharing and contract inflation in the study area; however, weaknesses and lapses were observed in bureaucracy, accountability and due process. Therefore, the study suggests among others, that there should be a political will to redress corruption dilemma, tighten accountability, due process and bureaucratic control in project environment.

Public Project Delay Monitoring by Implementation Coordination Unit

Malaysian government places high priority on the construction industry by allocating 60 percent from the total allocation for physical development of public project delivery. However, 113 on-going project are delayed and facing shortfalls in spending expenditure. Thus, it is important that these delay and over-budget problems being tackled by the Implementation Coordination Unit (ICU), who coordinates and monitors the implementation of the public projects. Hence, this paper is undertaken with the aim of evaluating the effectiveness in monitoring delayed pubic projects by ICU. This aim is achieved via objectives of identifying the causes of public project delay based on the monitoring by ICU, examining the monitoring tools currently used by ICU in monitoring public project delay, and proposing improvement measures for effective monitoring of the public project delay by ICU. Data was collected via document review, which is subsequently validated via questionnaire survey on the purposive sample of 16 monitoring officers at ICU and analysed via Microsoft Excel. It is found that the main causes of delayed public projects are contributed by contractor-related followed by project implementation-related, utility-related, land and site-related problems. Project monitoring systems currently used by ICU are Project Monitoring System II (PMS II) and Integrated Project and Tracking Analysis Updates (iPANTAU), which are claimed by the respondents as effective to identify and solve the problem of public project delay. The top proposed improvement measure for PMS II and iPANTAU are developing contractor score rating system based on their performance in PMS II and improve competency of monitoring officers, particularly on identifying the causes of delay before keying in the data into iPANTAU, respectively. This paper is expected to enhance the efficiency of these systems by providing accurate information needed to the stakeholders.

A review of public private partnership procurement practice in Malaysia

The citizens of most developing countries are looking forward to their respective governments for significant improvements in the social and economic infrastructures. Those governments are being faced with inadequate budgeting to address these needs while they see public private partnership procurement system as an opportunity to address those challenges. Despite that some developing countries have recorded little progress in the delivery of public projects under PPP arrangements, some other countries have successfully utilised the opportunities being provided by this procurement method. The aim of this study is to review the implementation of PPP projects in Malaysia so that the experience gained could be used to address the challenges of PPP procurement method in the developing countries. The study showed that the Government of Malaysia had progressively utilised PPP method to deliver infrastructure and services, and also contributed to the growth of her economy. It is recommended that the governments in developing countries should create conducive environment for PPP arrangement to succeed through people oriented policies.

The Valuation of Public Projects: Risks, Cost of Financing and Cost of Capital Current

It is often said that the private sector is in a good position to manage project costs and meet deadlines, but not, generally, to fund or finance projects. The underlying argument runs as follows: because the interest rate on government borrowings (the government’s financing cost) is lower than what is available to the private sector, the cost of goods or services will necessarily be lower if it is funded by government. However, there is confusion between the cost of financing and the cost of capital (or discount rate) that stems from an analytical error in assessing the true cost of public funds. This is a subtle but important error that is widespread in both the public and private sectors as well as in academia.This analytical illusion is due to the fact that a significant portion of the government’s cost of capital is unaccounted for or not recognized. This portion is the implicit option granted by taxpayers to their government to require additional funds in order to meet the commitments made to the lenders when a project does not meet the expected level of profitability. Discounting at an essentially risk-free rate is often justified by “the virtually unlimited taxing power of the Crown” – the project appears risk-free to lenders, but is obviously not risk-free for taxpaying citizens.The authors identify the implications for the evaluation of public investments and relevant public policies such as direct subsidies to businesses, government endorsements of corporate borrowings, the comparison of public sector versus private sector delivery of public projects and holding a portfolio of risky investments dedicated to the future repayment of the debt. It goes without saying that other evaluations of government policies and interventions could be similarly challenged.