EVALUATING THE PERFORMANCE OF PAVED ROAD CONSTRUCTION PROJECTS IN UGANDA.

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.0 Background

Development and maintenance of physical infrastructure are key to economic growth and development as well as harnessing poverty reduction. Production costs, employment creation, access to markets, and investment depend on the quality of infrastructure, most especially in transport (Ikiara et al. 2000; Chai & Yusof, 2013). Road transport is the most widely used means of transportation globally. The fragmentary nature of the railway system and the limitations imposed on the scope of inland water transport by geographical factors mean that transport of people and freight by rail  and inland waterways has to  be supplemented, usually by road transport over long distances (Ikiara et al. 2000 cited by Chai & Yusof, 2013).

Infrastructural development through construction of new roads and maintenance of existing ones is a fundamental aspect in development of every economy. The total percentage of the global cover of the paved roads was measured as 64.94% in 2009 according to the World Bank. Paved roads are those surfaced with crushed stone (Macadam) and hydrocarbon binder or bituminized agents, with concrete, or with cobblestones as a percentage of all country’s roads measured in length (World Bank WDI:2013). The data available show that Africa had approximately 311,184 km of paved roads in 1996, with approximately half of them in poor condition. According to African Development Bank, With the exception of Mauritius and the North African countries of Algeria, Egypt, Morocco, and Tunisia, paved roads account for less than 50 per cent of the road network in Africa. Indeed, paved roads in sub-Saharan Africa account for less than 17 per cent.

1996, with many countries falling below the average. About 57 per cent of the roads in North Africa were paved compared to 25 per cent in South Africa and 10.2 per cent in Central Africa. Road density per unit area of one km2 is generally much lower than those of Asia and Latin America (ADB 1999:122; World Bank, 2014).

The performance of construction projects has been a subject of concern in Uganda and many countries for quite some time (OFIP, 1998 and Meyer, Wilt, Kashiwagi & Kashiwagi, 2010). Recent studies show that construction projects and the industry at large have performed poorly in both the developed and underdeveloped countries (Herdsman & Ellis, 1992 Post, 1998).

Uganda is a landlocked country with a road network comprising national roads (21,544 km), district roads (35,566 km) Urban roads (10108 km) and community roads (about 78567 km). These roads do not only interconnect communities and districts, but also links Uganda to the neighboring countries and 97% of Uganda’s cargo is transported by roads.

However, out the 21,544 km of national roads managed by the UNRA, only 22.2 % are paved and the government of Uganda has of recent embarked on an upgrading programme to pave the major national roads (MoWt, 2010).  The National Development Plan (NDP, 2010) identifies the major physical structure deficits that are constraining the country’s development potential as lying in the sectors of transport, energy, water for production and communications.  In response government has taken on the challenge of addressing the infrastructure deficits, evident from the implementation of a number of major roads which is ongoing.

National roads in Uganda area managed by the Uganda National Roads Authority (UNRA) mandated by MoWt established by an Act of Parliament (The Uganda National Authority Act, No. 15 of 2006) with a mission to develop and maintain a national roads network, responsive to the economic development needs of Uganda, to the safety of all road users, and to the environmental sustainability of the national roads corridors.  The UNRA goals are to optimize the quality, timeless and cost effectiveness and guarantee all year round safe and efficient movement of people and goals throughout the country (MoWT). Unfortunately, these goals have not been achieved. The identification of the factors affecting road project performance is therefore very crucial if paved road construction project performance is to be improved.

Problem Statement

Road Construction project have for sometimes been experiencing performance problems in Uganda and the world over. Many road projects are never completed within in the estimated time, cost, quality expectations and scope.  Health and safety considerations, environmental concerns, functionality issues, low profitability and difficulty in satisfying the different project parties have all remained dilemma. Even in the developed countries including the United States of America and Britain, Construction projects are under performing. These countries have however taken different steps through research and development and reduced the severity of the problem.

Although it is true that all the factors that affect project performance can be identified and dealt with, it is more realistic to discover the most common so that more attention can directed to the most significant.   Poor pave road project performance affects governments, consultants, contractors, suppliers and general economic and social transformation.

In spite of the above, lack of clearly documented evidence of analysis of the key factors that affect road project performance in Uganda has remained a dilemma to be handled by this research.

1.2 Research Objectives

 1.2.1 Main Objectives of the study

The main objective of this study is to analyze the performance of paved road construction projects in Uganda and develop a model that a can contribute toward a contemporary improvement of road project performance.

 1.2.2 Specific Objectives

The specific objectives will be to:

• To establish the influence of evaluation on the performance of paved road construction.
• To establish the effects of contract terms on performance of paved road in Uganda.
• To establish the relationship between funding sources and performance of road construction project.

1.3 Research Question

• What is the influence of monitoring and evaluation on the performance of paved road construction?
• What is the influence of contract terms on performance of paved road in Uganda?
• What is the relationship between funding sources and performance of road construction project?

1.4 Project scope.

1.4.1 Geographical scope.

The study will be carried out specifically 3 roads, which will include; Kampala-Entebbe Expressway, Upgrading of Atiak Bibia Nimule and Reconstruction of kiryandongo-kamudini road

1.4.2 Content scope.

The study will cover specifically ; the influence of evaluation on the performance of paved road construction, the effects of contract terms on performance of paved road in Uganda and the relationship between funding sources and performance of road construction project.

1.5 Significance of the Research

The government    of Uganda has the recent years, embarked on a massive road construction campaign. In the fiscal year 2019/2020 alone, Uganda government apportioned UGX 3 Trillion for road construction (36.0%) of the national budget) aimed at improving the efficiency and the effectiveness of road transport.   This was the highest among the key sector priorities for the financial year, yet the construction project is marred by poor project performance.  A case in point in the Kampala Northern Bypass that had a cost overrun of 14% and a time overrun of 46% and currently registering three road accidents per day and one death per week (Uganda Police 2010) besides constructed through a heavily settled residential area and in the wetlands.

The results from this study are therefore expected to contribute to the improvement of the performance of road construction projects and hence efficient tackling of one goal of NDP, 2010 -2014 of strengthening the country’s undeveloped road networks that link the different places in the country and to the neighboring African countries.  It will also help in meeting the objectives of MDGs1, 7 and 8 in eradication of extreme poverty, ensuring environmental sustainability and developing a global partnership for development respectively.  It will additionally provide a contribution to the knowledge base for researchers.

Relevancy of the Research to Uganda’s Vision 2040.

Goal 36

To provide a necessary impulse to the economy, government will embark on front loading of investment in transport works.   The key infrastructure areas will be in Oil and Gas, Energy, transport and water for production.

Goal 109

The tourism support infrastructure and services will be improved to effectively facilitate the tourism industry this will improve transport networks and connectivity by improving and expanding Entebbe International Airport upgrading of five tourism aero drones and improving domestic air transport.

Goal 112

Government will construct pipeline infrastructure to deliver the refined products to the domestic regional and international market. Other essential infrastructure will be constructed to enable effective harnessing of opportunity and this will include roads, leading to the refinery and production areas linking to Tororo Pakwach Rails airport near the refinery area and appropriate water supply infrastructure.

Goal 123

Government will provide specific infrastructure including roads, railways, electricity and water to facilitate exploitation of these minerals to enable the bulky transportation of heavy minerals and their products. The railway will be extended to areas where enormous deposit has been found.

Electricity grind will be connected to support the mining and processing of these minerals.

Goal 229

In addition to traffic and transportation management within the cities and other urban centers will be based on the national transport master plan as earlier envisioned in section (4:2:2) in Kampala envisioned to remain the main capital city in the country.

Several ring roads are planned to help evacuate traffic and easy congestion and improve traffic flow for better cities will also be well planned quite before envisaged development.

Conceptual frame work

Independent variables                                                          

                                                                                                         Dependent variables

Intervening variables

CHAPTER TWO: LITERATURE REVIEW

2.0 Introduction

This section presents a review of relevant books, journals, abstracts, and case studies on the performance of construction projects .the critical factors leading to project performance have previously been investigated among construction project actors and owners of the companies with different answers.

2.1 Projects Performance

Important characteristics that affect projects performance have been identified by scholars and they include business management, financial condition and owner-manager characteristics (Arslan and Kivarathe ,2008).However ,the concept of project performance has remained ambiguously defined in the construction industry (Chan et ,2002  ).This section looks into the different views by different scholars in order to identify  study gaps and come out with a conclusion .

In an attempt to determine performance factors, project success has been widely considered by many scholars as an indicator of good performance (Chan &Chan, 2004 and Crawford Pollack, 2004) .Chan ,Crawford and Pollack categorized project success into the objective measures of time ,cost ,safety and environment considerations and subjective measures of quality ,functionality and satisfaction of different project participants .Bludenbach (2006) on the other hand regarded success as a model that consists of adherence  to quality target ,schedule ,budget ,and added captured knowledge ,market success in terms of profitability ,revenue ,market share ,reputation ,competitive advantage and customer satisfaction .project success is therefore an outcome of good performance and for that matter the level of success will be used in this research or measure performance.

Many researchers (Albert, 2004, Blumenbach, 2006, Chan &Chan 2004 and Crawford & Pollack, 2004) identified key performance indicators (KPLs) based on the finical and operational goals. According to Kashiwagi et alk .(2009) construction projects have continued to experience poor performance because most researchers lack structures which can introduce immediate change and this research considered it a gap .Cho (2009) additionally pointed out such most past studies done on project performance and the characteristics that affect such performance e consists of simple presentations  of the relationship between project performance and a few characteristics leaving out other important ones lie the effects of relevant political ,legal an economic systems ,including market constions ,importance for the project to be completed on time ,from of and the division of responsibilities  and liabilities ,specific location ,special weather and environmental concerns ,level of technological advancement project life span l/life cycle ,because of  a project ,quality of a project and type of client .

Success is almost the ultimate goal for every project .the evaluation of project success can be done from the efficiency and effectiveness dimensions (Crawford  and Bryce ,2003) .project efficiency(“doing the thing right’’ )is concerned with cost and process management (the efficient conversion of inputs to outputs  within budget and on schedule  ) and a wise  use of human capital financial and  natural capital .whilst, project effectiveness (“doing the right thing;’’)  is concerned with the development of worthiness or appropriateness of the chosen goal.

Recent study by Shahrzad and Hamidreza (2001) categorized performance measurement criteria into delivery and post –delivery stages and provided a “square route ‘’ on understanding performance success criteria iron triangle ,information system ,benefit (organizational ) and beneif6t (stakeholder community )  .The `iron triangle ‘ ,has cost ,time and quality as its criteria (for the delivery  stage ) just liked the other scholars had done .

The post-delivery stages comprise (i) the information    system, with such criteria as maintainability ,reliability  ,validity ,information quality use;(ii) benefit (organizational):improved efficiency ,improved effectiveness ,increased profits ,strategic goals ,organizational learning and reduced waste;(iii) benefit  (stakeholder community ):satisfied users ,social and environmental  impact ,personal development , professional learning ,contractors  profits ,capital suppliers ,content project development ,professional learning ,contractors  profits ,capital suppliers ,content project team and economic impact to surrounding community .Atkinson (1999) also points out that measuring project performance rely in measuring efficiency  ,and effectiveness .Given the above arguments ,it may be said that project performance    must consider both the project outputs (efficiency  ) and projects outcomes (effectiveness).

This research will carry out an exclusive empirical analysis of the success factors which affect performance with consideration  of the three  main projects actors ,namely :the client (Government ),consultants and the contractors  .The skills ,training ,experience and adherence to standard practices  will form the critical areas of study I addition to the project characteristic and the project environment.

Key performance indicators (KPIs) that have been identified and will be used include: time ,cost ,quality ,scope ;health and safety ,environmental considerations ,functionality  ,probability and satisfaction of the different project participants .there are augment’s on the list of success factors  which affect performance due to the unique internal  features and the different  boundary conditions of every construction  project (Nguyen et al .,2004),but the above are the major ones.

2.2 Evaluation on the performance of paved road construction

Marasini, and Dawood (2006) mentions that during 1959– 1969, the construction of Suez Canal was an international project of great proportions and contractors had gained experience in the construction of large buildings, railways, petrochemicals, dams and reservoirs. Lewis, (2008) mentions that Great Britain was first to go global with railway construction and the first major international construction company was built up by Pearson in Great Britain at about the turn of the century. Now there are massive projects constructed all over the world, driving the national economy.

In an earlier study (Alinaitwe et al., 2007) a number of factors that are influenced by the clients and can affect the progress of work were found to include; design changes, stoppages due to disputes between contractors with owners, stoppages because of insolvency, lack of adherence to regulatory requirements, and inspection delays. Many though think the initiation and the initial planning done by the client and the consultants determines the future direction (Wang, 1994). Evaluation is about how well something can be done and to measure project performance, a number of performance indicators such as time, cost, quality, client satisfaction, client changes, business performance, functionality, profitability, health and safety (Cheung et al., 2004; Shahrzad & Hamidreza, 2011) have been considered.

Financing arrangements are crucially important. Without an adequate and stable flow of funds in all departments, road construction and maintenance policies will not be sustainable. That is an important part of the problem in Africa. Road maintenance expenditures in most of in Sub-Saharan African countries are well below the levels needed to keep the road network in stable long-term condition. In most countries, they are less than half the estimated requirements and, in some, less than a third. Furthermore, the flow of funds is erratic (Fapohunda &Stephenson, 2010).

Budget allocations are often cut at short notice in response to difficult fiscal conditions, funds are rarely released on time, and actual expenditures are often well below agreed budget allocations. As a result, roads throughout the region continue to deteriorate, rural roads regularly become impassable during the rainy season, and the large backlog of road rehabilitation continues to increase with most of the ongoing works in construction being hoarded by stagnating contractors who have been unable to complete works on time rendering the project being anything but cost effective (Kikwasi, 2012).

The main reason why road evaluation and maintenance is underfunded is that road authorities work under constrained budgets owing to the fact that road users pay very little for the use of the road network. They pay the usual import duties, excise taxes and sales taxes, but so does everyone else. Road user charges in the form of vehicle license fees, a specific surcharge added to the price of fuel (the fuel levy), and international transit fees rarely cover more than 50 percent of expenditures on maintenance and, in some countries, barely cover 25 percent (Robinson, 1988). Most road expenditures are still financed from general tax revenues and donor-financed loans and grants. This is not necessary. Roads can be commercialized, put on a fee-for-service basis, and treated like any other public enterprise (Schlosse, 1993; Ahadzie, 2011).

An added complication is that funds for road maintenance are allocated as part of the annual budgetary process. Under this arrangement, each ministry must compete for funds during the annual budget negotiations and, at least in theory, funds are allocated to finance those expenditures with the highest economic return. However, if that were true, road maintenance 15 would not be underfunded. Allocations for monitoring and maintenance in Kenya and across Africa are well below the optimal requirements, even though the economic return at the margin is frequently well over 100 percent. The budget allocation process is flawed and politicized, and funds are unfortunately not allocated to finance expenditures with the highest return (World Bank, 2012). Large spending ministries, particularly those spending large sums on maintenance, nearly always lose out in the budget debate. Maintenance can always be postponed in the hope that better fiscal conditions are around the corner.

They rarely are, and road maintenance continues to be cut or deferred. Given this inherent structural problem, it is no wonder that both Japan and the U.S. both generally considered successful economies with well-developed budgetary systems use earmarking to secure a stable flow of funds to support their road expenditure programs (Ahmed, Azhar, Castillo and Kapagantulla, 2012).

Another reason road maintenance is underfunded is that some countries still spend too much on new investments (mainly upgrading existing roads and construction of feeder roads). A review of nineteen Sub-Saharan African countries has shown that, between 1986 and 1988, 58% of road expenditures were devoted to new construction or improvement, 17% to reconstruction and rehabilitation, and a mere 25% to routine and periodic maintenance (World Bank. 1992; 2013).

Countries continue to upgrade existing roads and build new ones even when there are no funds to maintain them. One of the reasons for preferring construction over maintenance is that maintenance is financed under the recurrent budget, while investment is financed under the development budget. Since donors are willing to support the development budget, development funds are less constrained than recurrent funds, which are mainly financed from domestic revenue sources. However, a more important reason for favoring new construction is that contracts tend to be larger (hence offering greater opportunities for gratification payments) and are politically more visible and glamorous (Bundi, 2011).

A few studies give some indication of the scale of the problem. The way transport unions can restrict the development of efficient and inexpensive transport services is well illustrated by Fouracre et al. (1994) for Ghana and Benmaamar (2002) for Uganda.  Rizzo (2002) presents a fascinating study of the negative impacts of privatization and deregulation in the Dar es Salaam transport system, including the rent-seeking practices of the bus owners’ association. Gore and Pratten (2002) observe how struggles around control of lorry parks have been exacerbated in Nigeria by the expansion of youth gangs.   Roadside inspections by numerous administrative bodies are often a major cause of delays and charges and do little to improve the dangerous, un- roadworthy condition of many vehicles (Nigerian Marketing Network, 2012).

In oil-rich Nigeria, the sensitive political issue of petroleum shortages created by supplier cartels has only recently been resolved.  As Sohail et al (2003:38) emphasize, regulation processes must be carried out in a demonstrably transparent way, ‘since regulation combined with corruption can produce a worse situation than an unregulated market’.   Monitoring and evaluation of road construction could suffer under corruption scourge due to the high capitalization of road projects.

Studies across the country indicate that, Success of road construction projects depends mainly on success of the level of evaluation of the contractors. Many previous researches had been studied performance of construction projects. Dissanayaka and Kumaraswamy (2009) remarked that one of the principle reasons for the construction industry’s poor performance has been attributed to the inappropriateness of the chosen procurement system leading to poor contractors in the country with poor experience, low financial knowledge, low monitoring and evaluation technology and  poor attitudes towards M&E. Thomas (2002) identified the main performance criteria of M&E of construction projects as financial stability, progress of work, standard of quality, health and safety, resources, relationship with  clients,  relationship with  consultants, management capabilities, claim  and contractual disputes, relationship with subcontractors, reputation and amount of subcontracting; factors that are mostly lacking in Kenya’s highways construction especially in the central region whereby corruption is the epitome of contractual agreements.

2.3 Contract terms on performance of paved road in Uganda

The construction industry plays significant role in the economy of developing countries. For example, in many developing countries, major construction activities account for about 80% of the total capital assets, 10 % of their GDP, and more than 50% of the wealth invested in fixed assets. In addition, the industry provides high employment opportunity, probably next after agriculture [(Ofori, 2006), (Jekale, 2004). Despite the construction industry’s significant contribution to the economy of developing countries and the critical role it plays in those countries’ development, the performance of the industry still remains generally low. As (Idoko, 2008)noted,.many projects in developing countries encounter considerable time and cost overruns, fail to realize their intended benefit or even totally terminated and abandoned before or after their completion …” Moreover, the development of the construction industry in developing countries generally lags far behind from other industries in those countries and their counter parts.

Contract Management in public procurement like in the construction industry has significant implications for service delivery (Oluka etal, 2014).He further believes that contract management offers an important framework for ensuring the success of any procurement undertaking for which service delivery is one of them. Aberdeen group (2006) found out that inefficient management of supplier contracts and unclear policies and procedure can have significant impact on the enterprises and hurt service delivery of which some of these effects include cost over runs and exposure to risks for both parties in the contract. While Joshua et al, (2004) in a study comparing similarities and differences of key contracting components for city, state and federal governments of the united states of America, Found that for all government in the federal systems, the public management functions of contracting are remarkably similar, and the contract management and the achievement of accountability are weak links in the contracting process. Walton, 2009; Elsey, 2007, refer to Contract management as an aid to parties to a contract to meet their obligations in order to deliver the objectives required of the contract. Contract management, except the capacity to amend or terminate, shall pass from a procuring and disposal unit to a user department on award of contract (PPDA Act, 2003; PPDA Amendment Act, 2011) for management of service delivery.

Lynch, (2013) believes that Contract management in road construction has been a neglected area. In Australia, the Australian Government Audit office report (2007) estimated about 30% of the audited contract management process, had irregularities and indicates that the deliverables specified in the statement of works had not been received, either in whole or in part. In Uganda Baseline Survey Report on Public Procurement Systems in Uganda (PPDAA, January 2010), there were significant variances between the actual and indicative time frames in contract completion. In addition, Sabiiti notes that the Government at times pays for no work done or very shoddy work and sometimes, contracts are not delivered on time which has affected the ability of the Government to deliver quality services to the general public (as cited in Rwothungeyo, 2013).

Chan et al (2005) noted that quality, cost and time have long been recognized as the major targets of concern by the client and is closely linked to time and cost and vice versa. Accountable project with poor quality can result in extra cost and time extensions, a project with time and cost poorly controlled can affect the conformance to quality requirements. For the majority of projects, the cost and time parameters are the mean pre- occupying factor for attributing success in achieving service delivery effectiveness.

Zou, Fang, Wang and Loose more (2007) observed that the Chinese Government requires project clients (owners to enhance on site supervision). On site project supervision process is essentially the responsibility of the supervisory company which is usually appointed by the competitive selection process.Milican and Monicious (2005) note that as organizations mature the nature of on-site supervision reduces but in the initial stages site supervision is necessary to ensure that service delivery is efficient.

Char et al, (2005) asserts that professionals and researchers recognize the need for proper training and widening experience in providing proper services to the customers in a competitive business environment. A successful contract quality assumption system needs an adequate supply of conscientious workers. Barthelemy and Geyer (2004), observed than any out sourcing contract should include clause confining, dispute procedures; who has responsibility for write and the lines of reporting. When entering a contract there is need to ensure the parties interpret the contract in the same way to achieve the desired quality levels (Will cocks and lester 1997).

Boroughs and Edgar (2008) argue that service delivery is more than simply meeting specification and that the customer’s point of view is very important because the quality is what the customer says it is andit’s the customer who set the quality and value of service but not company. The author further says that customers consider reliability and ability and service effectiveness as indicators of service delivery.

Cooper and Sheere (2004) contented that if service delivery is to be achieved, every employee should get involved in the decision making that makes them feel they are part and own the company, Other than leaving the responsibility to one department with management taking the lead. They add that participatory work style and the change in the thinking that makes every employee responsible for service delivery is critical in sustaining organization process of the organization.

2.3.1 The construction industry

Globally numerous researches have been carried out all pointing  to the fact that the construction   industry has performance problems in both   developing and developed countries (Herbsman &Ellis 1992;post 199.A recent study by Tindiwensi (2006) identifies parameters to measure construction industry performance which include: the economic performance   indicators ,quality performance initiators ;environmental and informal sector performance indicators .this study will mainly consider :time ;cost quality and scope as the success factor for performance  of paved road construction projects.

2.3.2 Construction projects

The term `construction projects’ refers to high –value, time bound, and special construction mission with predetermined performance objectives .The mission is accomplished within complex project   environments ,by  putting together human and non-human resources into a temporary organization (Chitkara,2005).

Construction project development involves numerous parties, various process, different phases and stages of work and  a great deal of input from both the public an private sectors ,with the major aim being to bring development  activities conclusion   .The level of success in carrying out construction project  development activities  will depend heavily on the quality of the managerial ,financial  ,technological and organization(Chitkara ,2005).

Construction project development involves numerous parties, process, deferent phase and at stages of work and a great deal of input from both the public and private sector’s, with the major aim being to bring the projects to successful conclusion. The level of success in carrying out construction project development activities will depend heavily on the quality of the managerial, financial ,technical  and organizational performance of the respectively  parties ,while taking  to consideration the associated risk management ,the business environment  ,and economic and political stability (Wand 1994).

Globally the construction industry is generally considered to have underperformed compared to other industries .in the developed nations like the UK and USA ,the construction has also been  criticized  not performing (Takim&Akintoye,2002) .Takin and Akintoye identified ten parameters for bench marking projects ,in order to achieve good performance and consequence success .Seven of these include construction: cost ,time cost predictability, time predictability, defects ,client satisfaction with the product and the service :and three company performance indicators of safety  ,profitability and productivity .

The performance of a construction projects greatly depends on the stakeholders ;individuals or as a group (Atlinson.et al .,1997).Throughout the project life cycle ,stakeholder’s continual participation is very important in order to be kept up to date as projects are liable to variations . Ling (2004) mainly focuses on project characteristics in analyzing projects performance .According to Ling project characteristics: like complexity, size and construction type are the major characteristics that affect projects leaving out project environment. Bennett(1991) however includes the economic situation as an important characteristics like politics ,local market situation and legislation should  be included .This research will analyses the major charter and draw a correlation between project performance and the these characteristics.

2.4 Construction project performance and its measurement

Project performance can be explained using “two success concepts ‘’(Baccarini,1999),projects management success an product success .The first concept focuses upon the successful accomplishment  of the project time, cost and quality ,,which can be measured in terms of meeting the project schedule ,budget ,and conformance to functional and technical specifications respectively .According to Bacarini, the later concept deals with the effects of the project’s final product with three key components which are; to satisfy the project goal ,project purpose and project stakeholders.

Performance measurement is an integral part of construction and business   management .by championing key company and projects aims ,managers are more likely to achieve success (Albert ,2004).But the only way of knowing whether those goals are being delivered is by identifying indicators of their success and using  them to keep an eye on the way they are performing .many scholars have referred to these as key performance I indicators (KPI).performance measurements is a systematic process of evaluating performance relative to a defined goal.it provides a  sense of where we are and ,are importantly ,where we are going .measurement can guide steady advancement  towards established goals an identify   shortfalls or stagnation.

Scholars have identified a distinction between performance indicators ,performance measures and performance measurement (Love et al .,2000) .performance indicators specify  the measurable facts necessary to prove that a planned effort has achieved the desired result .when indicators can be measured with some degree of precision and without ambiguity they are called measures. Performance measurement on the other hand is the systematic way of evaluating the inputs and outputs of a construction activity acts as tool for continuous improvements.

A recent study by Shaherzad and Hamidra (2011) identifies the top five of project performance criteria which applies to success to include: time performance ,cost ,quality ,health and safety, environmental  considerations and client satisfaction ,a confirmation of earlier studies by Takim and Akintoye (2002) .To achieve a successful project ,the planning phase is critical especially in the aspects of project schedule and cost (Yates & Eskander,20002) .Analysis of projects  performance  reveals three major areas of concern :projects planning and control; personnel; and involvement of lcint (Ogunlana an d Shamas,2009).The people planning and control, competent personnel ,and continuous involvement of client .these are in line to Phua and Rowlinson(2004) and Shrivastava (2008).Th ey are of the opinion   that planning and control  every important since it covers several other aspires such bas goal setting ,legal and contractual risk management ,procurement management  and change management.

Road construction projects require careful and through planning before the actually execution and then control while the project is on its way ,late completion can harm the expected outcomes ,resulting in to enormous lose of money ,efforts and can scrape the credibility of the project itself (Arian and Low,2005).

This research is I argument that unless the project team knows where they wish to get to, it is difficult to attain the desired goal. Lim and Mohammed (  1999) concluded in a similar way .it is therefore of the opinion that ,setting clear ,realistic ,identification goals by all project participants vital.it allows the team members to know where to stand at the moment ,how far they stand from the goal ,what the need to do to achieve success on time, and when they are going to get there .Refer to Kampala northern Bypass construction (MoWT,2010) in appendix 5.6 )

2.5 The construction participants

The construction industry agencies that this research considered as the major intervening factors include but not limited to the following:

2.5.1 Construction clients

Construction client is defined as the person or firm responsible for commissioning and paying for the design and construction of ability and is usually the owner of the facility being missioned .A recent study (Alinaitwe, 2008) indicates that little attention is given to the performance of the clients’ o in the construction industry. Alinaitwe’s opinion  is that ,there is a paucity of research that allows one to better under-stand the key roles of clients .much of the research on improvement of performance of the construction industry  has mainly focused on contractors and the supply chain leaving out clients .the performance  of the client is important because any decision made will affect project performance .Low and Chuan (2006) argue that poor project performance may not necessarily be due to the incompetence of anyone else but the client as client’ actions before ,doing and after the project can affect the performance  of  a project.

2.5.2 Government

The infrastructure has historically been the domain of government ,form buildings ,roadways to waterways to subways .safety ,training ,hiring ,and wage bargaining are each enmeshed within the huge public sector expenditures in construction industry services (Gerlad ,1997).in Uganda all roads are funded and consulted by the state  and therefore the research will find out how the formulation agents (MoWT and UNRA) play the roles .The ministry ‘s role is policy formulation ,regulation, setting stands ,strategic planning ,monitoring an evaluation .

2.5.3 Construction consultants

The role of the consultant on a construction  projects is often  not fully understood by the other parties involved o the projects ,including the consultant ‘s client (the owner ).consequently ,the consultants end up not fully utilized .with increased awareness and understanding ,all parties can benefit from the advantages  of having  a consultant  involved in the construction process

(Anderson ,2009)  .the nature of the tasks assigned by the clients to consultants varies (Chitkara ,2005) but generally consists of: projects feasibility  including cost estimates ,site survey and soil investigations ,scrutiny and coordination of designs an drawing works.

Consultants also carry out estimating ;initial planning and budgeting ;prequalification of construction agencies ;tendering ,and awarding contracts to the successful bidders; designing  project organizations for executing woks and developing standard operating procedures and systems ;developing detailed construction plans; projects schedules and performance measuring standards  ,supervising works; including administration  of contracts and controlling or projects time, cost and  quality objectives I addition to scope management

2.5.4 Contractors

Contraction contractors play important role in the construction business as they execute most of the construction work .They have big influences upon projects and their successes. Therefore, it vi quite critical to select a qualified contactor to execute a project .A competent construction contractor is one of the indispensable conditions of process and completion of a construction projects (Xiaohong, 2011).

2.6 Project performance model

A model is an interpretative description of an empirical phenomenon that facilitates access to that phenomenon .A scaled model facilitate looking at (perceiving) something by enlarging it or shrinking it. This can involve making explicit features which are not directly observable before execution of the actual subject (peter and miche,2002).

Models often relay on abstracts ideas and concepts ,frequently  employing a mathematical formalism ,but always with the intention to provide access to aspects of a phenomenon that are considered to be essential .A scientific model express range form :sketches ,diagram s, ordinary text ,and graphs ,to mathematical equations .

Because of the continued poor project performance, robs   has done become   an important part of construction management .According to William  (2009) the risk-based decision support models available to construction managers do not adequately address risks  relating to cost ,schedule ,quality ,environment concerns ,health and safety together in a coherent framework  .This research will develop a model for road construction project management  in consultation with other management models tentatively called “Road Project Performance Model (RPPM)’’

It will consider basic management models and theories associated with motivation and leadership as suggested by famous scholars like Henri Fayol (1841-1925) ,Fredrick Winslow Taylor (1856-

1915) and Max Weber (1864-1924)  for modern application .it will capture the roles ,responsibilities and interest   of all the stake holders .it is expected to simultaneously address cost ,schedule ,quality ,environmental concerns ,heath and safety together in a concert ,probabilistic frame work .it will provide the information needed for the checks ,and warnings for support decision making in allocating scare resource at all stages of the construction  process .

2.7 Conclusion

This section highlights the areas that were found to have research gaps.

No clear evidence of a documented study on the stage of performance of road construction projects in Uganda exists .Data on the factors affecting project performance ,frequencies of occurrence ,severity and impact are hardly seen .this study will address this area in  identifying the factor affecting road construction project performance and quantify  the frequency of occurrence ,the severity and the impact (specific objectives 1and  2) .it will establish the relationship between these factors and the impact in line specific objectives 3.

A model that can be used by construction client ,consultants and constrictor in ,monitoring the progress  during planning and execution has no evidence  of existence and risks management models available do not capture the KPI .This is in line to specific objective .

Project charactericts   that affect road project performance are not clearly brought out and made known to the project parties in addition to failure to correlate them to project performance .This study will establish the relationship between the major characteristics and performance .it will be models out for performance improvement.

CHAPTER THREE

 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

3.1 Introduction

This chapter presents the procedure ad details on how this research will be carried out. It has the research design regarding what, where, when, how, much, by what means the inquiry will be carried out (Kothari, 2004). The section highlights the procedure that will be used to analyze the factors that affect the performance of paved road construction projects.

3.2 Methodology Adopted

The main aim of the study was to evaluating the performance of paved road construction projects in Uganda.

To enable the researcher arrive fully analyze the study the researcher used to quantitative means this was mainly by setting questionnaires and then entering data in the system. This is also called descriptive study, According to Nardi (2018), the main benefit of descriptive survey research is that it contains potential to grant us a lot of information from a fairly huge sample of individuals. Using this research design, this study focused on acquisition of quantitative data from a cross-section of people involved in the road construction sector.

3.3 Data sources

The source of data collected was only primary data. Primary data is data collected from the field in a row form. This data was collected from the selected respondents of the study.

3.4 Research Design

The research design used was cross sectional design with both quantitative and qualitative data collected. Cross-sectional design allows the researcher to compare many different variables in the study.

3.5 Sampling Technique

The study used different sampling techniques, however specifically the researcher used purposive sampling technique to enable in the selection of technique staff like the engineers, while contractors were selected using simple random sampling technique.

Purposive sampling, also known as judgmental, selective or subjective sampling, is a type of non-probability sampling technique where the researcher chooses a sample based on what they think in other words they use their personal judgment (Palys, 2008).

Simple random sampling According to Amin, (2010) a simple random sample is a subset of individuals chosen from a larger set (a population). Each individual was chosen randomly and entirely by chance, such that each individual had the same probability of being chosen at any stage during the sampling process, and each subset of individuals had the same probability of being chosen for the sample.

3.6 Research Population

Study population is defined as the entire group of people that a researcher wishes to investigate (Sekaran, 2003). In this study the target respondents were Engineers, contractors, supervisors, employees in the construction companies.

The total number of respondents is shown in the table below

3.6.1 Sample size and sampling techniques

Mugenda and Mugenda (2003), argue that it is impossible to study the whole targeted population and therefore the researcher shall take a sample of the population. A sample is a subset of the population that comprises members selected from the population. Using Krejcie and Morgan’s (1970) table for sample size determination approach, a sample size of 36 employees was selected from the total population of   40 respondents.

3.7 Study area description

The study will be carried out on specific roads areas surrounding the roads, with this the roads that will be selected for this study will include;

During the analysis of these roads the researcher will issue questionnaires to the target population. Who will include mainly the Contractors, Engineers, Roads inspectors, Procurement officers, Accountant and Contracts committee members.

The areas that will be considered areas around; jinja-kamuri road, bukyonza-Buzaya, Abutadi Amunanu road, Rukanga Rwashamire road, Kampala-Entebbe Expressway, Atiak Bibia Nimulem, and Reconstruction of kiryandongo-kamudini road. The Respondents were selected from the employees who have worked in the three categories of roads for the last five years since they could be having relevant information that is required.

3.9 Data collection

Data collection is a term used to describe a process of preparing and collecting data and purpose of these process is to obtain information to keep on record, to make decisions, about important issues and to pass information to others. The standard questionnaire was used for all respondents distributed to and retrieved from the technical staff in person. Standard questionnaire that is used unchanged for all the respondents throughout the study.

A five point Likert ordinal scales ranging from; strongly agree which shall be assigned 5, strongly Agree, 4 agree, Not Sure assigned 3, Disagree allocated 2 and strongly disagree allotted 1 to obtain responses on the variables. The Likert ordinal scale has been used by numerous scholars who have conducted similar studies such as Bowling, (1997).

3.10 Data quality control

The data a collection tools shall be pre-tested on a smaller number of respondents from each category of the population to ensure that the questions are accurate clear and in line with each objective of the study.

3.10.1 Validity

Validity is defined as the extent to which results can be accurately interpreted and generalized to other populations (Oso & Onen, 2008). While Borg & Gall, 1989 as cited in Onyinkwa, (2013) validity is defined as the degree to which results obtained by the research instrument correctly represented to the phenomenon understudy and Mugenda & Mugenda, (1999) as the accuracy and meaningfulness of inferences which are based on the research results.

Amin, (2005) recommended minimum CVI of 0.7 to be used. Validity was tested using content validity index which involves judges scoring the relevancy of the questions in the instruments in relation to the study variables.

The formula for Content Validity Index was;

CVI =

Where CVI = content validity

n= number of items indicated relevant.

N = total no. of items in the instrument

3.10.2 Reliability

According to Mugenda and Mugenda, (2013) reliability is the measure of the extent to which research instruments are able to provide the same results upon being tested repeatedly. Crobach’s coefficient alpha (a) as recommended by Amin, (2005, P.302) was used to test the reliability of the research instrument. The instrument is deemed reliable if reliable of 0.7 and above is obtained and therefore, it was adopted for use in the data collection.

3.11 Ethical consideration

The researcher ensured that before giving questionnaires to the respondents their consent was sought and when they accepted to participate in the study, they were given questionnaires.

Confidentiality of the respondents ‘information was assured and the researcher also informed them that the study was strictly for academic purposes and therefore, they should not fear giving information.

Only respondents who were selected were given questionnaires and only those meant to be interviewed were actually interviewed.

3.12 Data analysis

Mugenda and Mugenda (1999) and Mbaaga (2000) both defined data analysis as a process of bringing order, structure and meaning to the data gathered to create information out of it. Data analysis was therefore, done with quantitative methods.

3.12.1 Quantitative Data Analysis

Data processing was done by entering the data into a statistics package for social sciences (SPSS) version 24.0 in line with the research questions. Data analysis was done by also using this statistics package for social sciences (SPSS) to formulate frequency tables where the percentages, frequency, mean, variance and standard deviation were obtained.

Under quantitative analysis, process included editing, classification, coding and presentation. Data was summarized in frequency tables, percentage; data was analyzed with the use of statistical package for social scientist (SPSS). Quantitative data was collected through structured questionnaires and it was cantered into a computer, tabulated and analyzed.

Spearman’s correlation coefficient and regression analysis is recommended by Amin (2005, P.378) was used during data analysis in order to test the strength, degree and direction of the study variables. The formula was used for this study because it was compatible with SPSS program in addition to being appreciated in analyzing data under which the data was arranged.

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QUESTIONNAIRE

SECTION A: Demographic data.

Instructions: Please tick (√) in the appropriate answer-brackets to each of the questions in this section.

1. Gender:

Male ( )                   Female ( )

2. Age:

18-30yrs ( ) 31-40yrs ( ) 41-50yrs ( ) 51-60yrs ( ) over 61

3. Level of education:

Vocational Training ( )     Diploma ( )     Degree ( )      Masters  ( )      Others ( )

4. Work experience

Less than 10 years ( )    between 10-20 ( ) between 20-30 (  )  Over 30.

Section B: Monitoring and evaluation

On a scale of 1 to 5, rate the extent to which you agree or disagree with the following statements in the factors affecting the performance of paved road construction. (Where 1= Strongly Disagree 2= Disagree 3= Weakly Agree 4= Agree 5= Strongly Agree).

Section C: Contract Terms.

On a scale of 1 to 5, rate the extent to which you agree or disagree with the following statements in the factors affecting the performance of paved road construction. (Where 1= Strongly Disagree 2= Disagree 3= Weakly Agree 4= Agree 5= Strongly Agree).

Section D: Source of funds  

On a scale of 1 to 5, rate the extent to which you agree or disagree with the following statements. (Where 1= Strongly Disagree 2= Disagree 3= Weakly Agree 4= Agree 5= Strongly Agree).

Section D: Performance of road projects 

On a scale of 1 to 5, rate the extent to which you agree or disagree with the following statements. (Where 1= Strongly Disagree 2= Disagree 3= Weakly Agree 4= Agree 5= Strongly Agree).