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CAUSES OF DELAY IN PROJECT CONSTRUCTION

IN DEVELOPING COUNTRIES
Shubham VYAS,
Engineer,
Alstom T&D India Ltd, India.

ABSTRACT
Delay in industrial or project construction is one of the major barriers of developing countries such as India
& China & most of the south east countries. A survey was conducted in different projects such as power plant,
factory construction, multi story building construction etc. across the country.
The critical factors need to be identified which causes influencing negatively duration project construction.
Systematical and scientific approach is one of the techniques by which we can identify the root cause. In this
analysis we found some key factors causing the delay problems in construction project such as motivation,
payment, classical technique etc. also we found a technique is adopted.
Keywords: Project construction, delay in construction, delay elements, impact of delay and technique for
avoiding delay.
According to Mansfield, (1994) - They presented that the
causes of delay and cost overrun in Nigerian construction
project were attribute to (a) Poor contract management. (b)
Inaccurate estimations. (c) Over all price fluctuation. (d)
Shortages of materials and equipment. (e) Finance and
payments agreements.
According to Al-Momani (2000) - He identified causes of
delay in 130 public projects in Jordan. The main cause of
delay where related to design, user changes, weather, site
condition, late deliveries, economic condition and increase
in quantity. The study suggested special factors will help
industry practitioners in minimizing contract disputes.
Delay has strong relationship with failure in ineffective
performance of contractors.
Completion time is extremely important in construction.
Execution time is one of the performance measures of
construction projects, which are time, cost, and quality.
Project success is measured by these measures which show
the performance of the construction parties involved,
mainly the owner and the contractor. All the parties look
for project completion by a specified time, in the most
economical manner, with the required quality.

Introduction:
The main aim of this study is to find out what are the
major causes of delay? Delay in project construction
causes stress to overall team. As we know time is money
(Procrastination is the thief of time (Edward Young),
which itself defines delay in project construction means
overrun, loss of capital and revenue, increases market risk,
delay in production, increasing material cost as well as
lack of efficiency. While completing project at right time
leads profit, market growth, increasing customers trust
and increasing self as well as teams confidence.
In previous studies Safety, Equipment & Daily target was
not included in there studies, which also leads to cause
delay in project construction.
Similar survey was conducted by Ogunlana in 1996 at
Thailand, Bangkok, and His analysis that there are three
major categories of delay in project construction (a)
Problems of shortages or inadequacies in the industry
infrastructure. (b) Problems caused by clients and
consultants. (c) Problems caused by contractor
incompetence/inadequacy.
Chan and Kumaraswamy (1997) conducted a survey to
find delay causes in Hong Kong construction projects and
he found five major factors: delay (a) poor risk of
management and supervision
(b) Unfocused site
condition. (c) Slow decision making. (d) Client- initiated
variation. (e) Work variance.

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Research Methodology:
A survey questionnaire was used to carry out the study.
The questionnaire was divided into two parts- part one
consist of basic questions & background of the project and

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second part consist of 80 factors of delay, which were

grouped into ten different categories such as engineering,
material, etc.
We took interviews of Project engineer, mid level
employees, contractors and labours and created a brief idea
of causes of delay. First of all we adopted Ishikawa or fish
bone (fig 1) technique to find out major causes of delay and
then we started focusing on each & every elements of delay.

Total number of questionnaires distribution and

responses (fig 2)

Data calculation method:

This method of calculation was adopted from Chan and
Kumaraswamy, 1996; Lew et al., 2003) the method is
used to determine the mean of the variance cause and
effect of delay. In our survey respondent provide data as
Yes or No, where Yes denotes 1 & No denoted
0. Numeric data is used to analyze the result
mathematically & correctly.
Fig 3: Elements of delay and there percentage
Table 1 gives the Mean valve & priority of delay causes
based on all respondent, On that response we identified
first major cause of delay is lack of daily target & review,
second major factor is lack of strategic planning which was
also noticed by Odeh AM & Battaineh HT at Nigeria in
2012 his study, Third major factor is decision making
power which was also noticed by Assaf and Al-Heji at
Saudi Arabia in 1995, forth major factor of delay is
Quality of material get damage due to poor storage area
which was also noticed by Chan and Kumaraswamy in his
study at Hong Kong in 1997, fifth major factor of delay is
Team work & co ordination, sixth major factor of delay is
Payment to vendors & employee which was also noticed
by Odeyinka and Yusif in his study at Nigeria in 1997,
seventh and final major cause of delay is Un-preferable of
work condition.

Where M.S refers mean, f refers frequency which is

constant (f = 1) in our survey, s refers is the score given
to each factor by the respondents and N refers total no.
of responders.
Analysis:
This study was conducted in both private & public
projects, on the basis of study, analysis & calculation;
we ranked each elements of delay. 10.3 % of the total
delay was caused due to Daily target, 9.4 % of the total
delay was caused due to Engineering, 11.9 % of the
total delay was caused due to Equipment, 11.2 % of the
total delay was caused due to material, 7.1 % of the
total delay was caused due to Time management, 10.1
% of the total delay was caused due to Risk
management, 10.3 % of the total delay was caused due
to Safety, 7.2% of the total delay was caused due to
External causes, 7.4 % of the total delay was caused due
to finance & 15.1 % of the total delay was caused due to
Employee (fig 3). Total number of questionnaires
distribution and responses given below (fig 2).

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Some photographs are sowing below which proofs that

material get damage & rejected by quality due to poor
storage area, Un-preferable of work condition.

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Fig. 4- Project construction area

(Photograph taken at JP Nigri)

Fig. 5 - Poor material storage area

(Photograph taken at HIL Mahan)
Fig. 6 & 7 - No working plate form
(photograph taken at JSPL Angul)

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Result and Conclusion:

Technique that used to avoiding delay (fig 7):

Before conducting this survey, we assume that delay can

be created by Rework, Lack of recourses, lack of
manpower etc, but the result was something unexpected.
We concluded that there are seven main cause of delay in
project construction they are a) Lack of daily target & review,
b) Lack of Strategic planning,
c) Quality of material get damage due to poor storage area,
d) Payment,
e) Decision making power,
f) Un-preferable of work condition
g) Team work and coordination.
While the main causes of delay element are Employee
(15.1%) and Equipment (11.9%).
References:
[1] Ogunlana,S O K. Promkuntong, V. Jearkjirm.
Construction delays in a fast growing economy,
comparing Thailand with other economies. .
International journal of project Management Vol. 141 (1996), P. 37-45
[2] Chan DW, Kumaraswamy MM. A comparative study
of causes of time overruns in Hong Kong
construction projects. Int J Project Manage
1997;15(1):5563
[3] Al-Momani AH. Construction delay: a quantitative
analysis. Inter- national Journal of Project
Management 2000;18(1):519.
[4] Kometa ST, Olomolaye PO, Harris FC, Attribute of
UK construction clients influencing project
consultants performance. Constructions manage econ
1994; 12:433-43.
[5] Mansfield NR, Causes of delay and cost overrunin
Nigerian construction projects. Int j project Manager
1994;12 (4):254-60.
[6] Ramanathan C al., Construction delay causing risks
on time and cost a critical review, Vol 1 37-57
(2012)
[7] Odeh AM ,Battaineh HT, causes of constructional
delay : traditional contracts. Int J Manage (2002);20;
67-73.
[8] Kasimu Al Mohammed, Causes of delay in Nigeria
construction Industry (2012) vol 4,No. 2; 785-792.
[9] Odeyinka, H.A. and Yusif, A. (1997) The causes
and effects of construction delays on
[10] Completion cost of housing project in Nigeria,
Journal Financial Manage Property Construction, 2
(3), 3144 .

Fig. 7- Flow chart should be followed during project

construction, it also helps to avoid delay & controlling
project.
Following things can be adopted to avoid delay in project
construction. Understanding need of customer, identifying
goal, Strategic planning, Motivation, Daily target review
and reinforcement
Impact of delay:
During our study we found some major impacts of delay.
a) Increase in project costs
b) Increases market risk
c) Overall efficiency decreases
d) Increasing man-hours (decreasing safety of individuals)
e) Delay in production
f) Decreasing customers faith & trust
g) Delay in local or region development
h) Increase in land acquisition costs
i) Increases material cost
j) Increases stress to overall team

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Table 1: Showing mean & rank; were 1 refers uppermost and 8 refer lowermost important cause of delay.
S.N.
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48

Delay elements

DAILT TARGET

ENGINEERING

EQUIPMENTS

MATERIALS

TIME
MANAGEMENT

RISK
MANAGEMENT

Safety

Delay causes
Daily target & review
Conflict bt ideas in terms of dail1 target
Daily meeting for planning
Poor communication system
Strategic planning for daily work
Ineffective management
Ineffective supervision
Goal not defined
Complex design
Design Fault
Unskilled man force - Engineering team
Insufficient data while designing
Team work & co ordination
Delay in design approval
Customers requirement changes
Installation problem
Equipment size
Certification of Equipments
Calibration of Equipments
Unavailability of correct tool for working
Unavailability to test of equipment
Use of classical tools
Insufficient tools
Material lead time
Poor storage area
Transit Damage
Quality of material
Wrong supply
Short receipt
Delay in procurement
Supplied material was defective
Lunch time of labours and Management staff is on same time
Leaving work area - labours
Rework
Daily working Hours
Estimated project completion was time too short
Confusion
Use of classical technique
Change in design
Market risk
Bureaucracy
Future planning
Customer reliability
Conflict between owners or partners
Dependency - Supplier & Customer
Change in scope of work
Not following Personal protective equipment
Unavailability of work permit

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Mean
0.977
0.986
0.989
0.992
0.977
0.989
0.992
0.997
0.992
0.986
0.992
0.997
0.977
0.989
0.983
0.986
0.992
0.986
0.983
0.986
0.989
0.986
0.989
0.983
0.98
0.992
0.98
0.989
0.989
0.989
0.986
0.989
0.992
0.986
0.995
0.989
0.995
0.989
0.989
0.992
0.989
0.989
0.983
0.989
0.98
0.989
0.992
0.989

Priority
1
4
5
6
1
5
6
8
6
4
6
8
1
5
3
4
6
4
3
4
5
4
5
3
2
6
2
5
5
5
4
5
6
4
7
5
7
5
5
6
5
5
3
5
2
5
6
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49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80

EXTERNAL
CAUSES

FINANCE

Employee

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Lack of awareness about safety

Unavailability of work condition
Effect on environment
Casual approach in term of safety
Accident at site
Risk while working with electrical equipment & working at height
Natural causes - flood ,earth quack
Changes in Govt. law & regulation
Land acquiring problem
Local development
Social problem - School, temple
Unavailability of water, electricity
Delay in final inspection - work area
Delay in getting work permit from municipal corp. board
Return of investment ROI
Not using WBS - in all field
Wrong estimation
Delay in payment - vendors
Delay in payment - own employees
Inventories
Low budget
Casual approach of employees
Unskilled man force - employees
Weak feedback
Frequent change of manpower
Delegation - not in our scope
Lack of discussion
Motivation
Interpersonal relationship
Rigidity of employee & labor
Understanding portfolio & interest of employee
Decision making power employee

0.989
0.977
0.986
0.989
0.992
0.986
0.995
0.992
0.986
0.992
0.995
0.992
0.992
0.992
0.992
0.995
0.992
0.98
0.983
0.995
0.989
0.995
0.986
0.989
0.986
0.986
0.989
0.986
0.989
0.986
0.986
0.977

5
1
4
5
6
4
7
6
4
6
7
6
6
6
6
7
6
2
3
7
5
7
4
5
4
4
5
4
5
4
4
1

******

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