The Most significant causes of delay in construction in Sri Lanka

Abstract

The delay is considered as a widespread crisis in construction projects. The delay occurs as a result of an act or failure to act by contracting parties as well as by outside forces. Sri Lankan construction industry faces a significant rate of delays in project delivery. The causes of delays in construction in Sri Lankan have been identified and have been addressed individually by stakeholders. However, the delay occurs in almost all projects in Sri Lanka continuously. The purpose of this research was to identify the most significant causes of delays in construction in Sri Lanka. Following an in-depth review of literatures in various parts of the world, 44 causes of was first formulated. These identified causes were presented, based on Delphi technique, to a panel of experts from construction industry consisting of Senior Quantity Surveyors, Senior Project Managers, Senior Architects and Senior Engineers who are playing a managerial role. The experts were requested to express their opinion on the level of significance on each cause and the results were statistically summarized. It was observed that there are ten most significant causes of delays exist in Sri Lankan construction projects viz.; poor planning and scheduling, delay in obtaining permits and permissions, poor site management, design deficiencies, suspension of works by owner, contractor's financial difficulties, variations, poor procurement methods of the contractor, slow decision making by owner and lack of familiarity of local industry. Out of these ten causes, poor planning and scheduling has recorded extremely significant and all other nine causes have recorded as very significant. The findings were slightly different to those of previous studies in other countries. Keywords: Significant Causes of Delay, Construction, Sri Lanka