Mitigating Delays in Donor Funded Road Projects in Sri Lanka

Delays in donor funded road projects have become inevitable, and an endemic problem in Sri Lanka hindering effective use of foreign aid granted for such projects. This paper mainly identifies significant factors causing project delays and presents strategies and recommendations to mitigate such delays. A road map was first developed to identify the major value adding activities from inception to the completion of a road project. Twenty four projects were examined for quantitative data on time delays, in addition to a comprehensive literature survey and semi-structured interviews. The study revealed an alarming situation that, during the implementation stage, increase in quantities had significant effect on the project time and accounted for about 56% of the delays. The results also indicated that errors and omissions in detail design, changes in specifications and scope, were the most prevalent sources of quantity increases. Further, during the tendering stage, procurement of works activities was delayed by 23% mainly due to shortcomings in contract documents and approvals from relevant agencies. In this context, the developed process model for action to direct the implementation of donor funded road projects recommends to incorporate design constructability review as a major value adding activity in order to minimize the project delays. A rigorous approach by the executing agency (EA) is essential to make the aid more effective, accountable and transparent