Causes and Effects of Delays and Disruptions in Construction Projects in Tanzania

Delays and disruptions are among the challenges faced in the course of executing construction projects. Delays as well as disruptions are sources of potential risks that current studies are looking into ways to manage such as technical, social, economic, legal, financial, resource, construction and commercial. The purpose of this research is to assess causes and effects and disruptions in construction projects. This study is descriptive, designed to obtain views from clients, consulting firms, regulatory boards and construction firms in regard to causes and effects of delays in construction projects. Two sampling techniques were used to select respondents namely: purposive and random sampling. Literature review, questionnaires and interviews techniques were used to collect data for the study. Findings reveal that the main causes of delays and disruptions are: design changes, delays in payment to contractors, information delays, funding problems, poor project management, compensation issues and disagreement on the valuation of work done. On the other hand, time overrun, cost overrun, negative social impact, idling resources and disputes are the main effects of delays and disruptions. The study concludes that there still exist a number of causes of delays and disruptions and their effects put construction projects at great risk that have an effect on their performance. It is therefore recommended that adequate construction budget, timely issuing of information, finalization of design and project management skills should be the main focus of the parties in project procurement process.