Critical delaying factors: Public sector building projects in Gilgit-Baltistan, Pakistan

Abstract

Project delays are a large and prevalent problem in the Gilgit-Baltistan construction industry, and delays can distinctly affect project duration, budget, and also community needs. The purpose of this study is to highlight and rank delaying factors in the Annual Development Programme public sector building infrastructure projects and examine them through a relative importance index. A total of 52 delaying factors were identified through a detailed literature review and categorized into eight major groups, and a pilot study with 16 experienced construction experts was conducted. A questionnaire survey was conducted to collect the importance of each factor from public construction experts. In total, 102 respondents participated in the survey. The study determined that difficulties in financing projects by contractors, delays in progress payments, dispute on land usage, improper project feasibility studies, award project to the lowest bid price, extreme weather conditions, inadequate contractor experience, and insufficient data collection and survey before design were among the top eight critical delaying factors. In addition, Spearman's rank correlation tests revealed that there was no difference in perception between owners and contractors. A comparison of the top five delay factors was done with eight preferred construction industries in Asia to validate the results of this study. The findings are likely to be a solid contribution to the Gilgit-Baltistan construction industry in mitigating future construction delays.