FACTORS AFFECTING THE PERFORMANCE OF ROAD CONSTRUCTION PROJECTS IN UASIN GISHU COUNTY, KENYA

Abstract

This study entailed the process of examining and carrying out a survey on county government officers, registered contractors, consultants and regulatory body officials in Uasin Gishu County. The descriptive survey method was adopted for this research and data was obtained by means of survey using questionnaires. A sample size of 82 respondent drawn from a population of 454 was used in this research work which includes: county project manager, finance manager, auditor, inspectors, Quantity Surveyors, Civil Engineers, and some of the regulatory officials. Population characteristics include gender, education level, the number of years in practice, department of work, the values of project and professional qualifications. The purposive random sampling method was used to select individuals for the study. Data was collected by means of questionnaires. Primary Data involved data collected from respondents’ responses to the questionnaires. Oral responses was also be obtained where necessary. Secondary Data involved data collected from textbooks, journals, articles, reports from within and outside the road project construction industry and the internet. Descriptive and inferential statistics was used to analyze the data collected by using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) version 23 for analysis. In inferential statistics, regression analysis was used to determine the relationship between variables. The result revealed a low satisfaction level in county managerial functions in regard to planning, organizing, staffing, coordination and controlling of the project activities. Risks and uncertainty hindered the performance. Public policies and regulations and mismanagement of project funds contributed to poor performance of the road construction project in Uasin-Gishu County. The conclusion is that managerial functions, project risks and uncertainty, public policies and regulations and management of financial resources all had a positive influence on performance of road construction projects. The recommendations for improvement in performance include: to consider political and environmental risks in cost estimation; to develop monitoring and control mechanism; to establish project safety systems; to use competition to allocate performance-based subsidies contract, which allow for better value for money; to simplify accounting and report system and to make the financial and audit reports available to the project stakeholders for their individual scrutiny.