Abstract:
The three measures of efficiency of a project are time, quality, and cost. The overall goal for project is to implement the project in the shortest time, the lowest cost and the highest quality. Infrastructure projects as generally do not finish according to the specified budget.
The phenomenon of cost overruns considered as a common phenomenon in these kind of projects and has been given great attention in the academic literature.
The primary objective of this study is to attempt to identify the major cost overrun factors in railways construction projects in Sudan and rank these factors Based on the frequency of their occurrence, which can serve as a way forward for future projects to deal with these cost overruns.
The study is based on previous a literature review investigating factors which have significant influence on cost overruns and also a questionnaire distributed to engineers who work in the field of railways construction in Sudan.
The questionnaire contain 18 potential factors of cost overruns in railways construction projects in Sudan, Distributed to 100 engineers work in this field and a total of 85 respondents were received and analyzed by using the spss 2014 program and Through this questionnaire, the study showed that the top (5) from the (18) factors which identified are Economic inflation, change orders, Project delay, inaccurate estimate of quantities to be implemented, and poor budget preparation Contribute more to cost overruns.
The study also showed that the factors of cost overrun that most frequent in terms of the frequency of occurrence are: Economic inflation, Change orders, Project delay, and Owner delay in the payment of benefits contractors, Poor planning in the decision-making process due to political and administrative factors.
The Study recommended developing Solutions to limit spread of cost overrun phenomenon it can be summarized in good project planning, audit in the calculation of the quantities required to complete, track and measure the project progress, follow up the contractor’s performance, facilitate the routine procedures, enact laws that limit administrative corruption, separate consultant from owner.
