A Study on the Effects of Construction Project Delays in Somaliland Construction Industry

Abstract

The aim of this study is to fill a significant knowledge gap by exploring the effects of delays in construction projects in Somaliland construction industry. Prior to the questionnaire design, a systematic literature review was conducted to identify five most common effects of delays in construction projects, globally. Based on simple random sampling approach, data was collected from 51 stakeholders from the different construction companies in Hargeisa using a questionnaire survey. Feedback from the stakeholders was analyzed using mean values and Relative Importance Index (RII) for ranking purposes. The results showed that legal action, cost overrun, and complete project abandonment are the three most ranked effect of delays in construction projects in Somaliland, respectively. The implications of these findings are very important as they provide practical, research, policy, and social values that expands the understanding the effects of project delay in global construction industry. This would allow impending academic researchers that might want to conduct research work in this area to validate their findings in the future. The major construction stakeholders are recommended to make use of the appropriate strategies needed to take proactive measures to mitigate the identified effects when executing future construction projects in Hargeisa and elsewhere.