Impact of Covid-19 as a new type of risks on construction projects in Sudan

Abstract

In construction engineering, it is possible to anticipate most of the common risks surrounding a construction project, but during the past three years, this sector faced a new and unforeseen danger, which is the Corona pandemic (Covid-19). This crisis has disrupted the global economy and clearly affected all global companies and financial institutions as well as many other sectors in the world. In Sudan, after the emergence of the pandemic, the competent authorities issued precautionary and preventive measures to reduce the incidence of this disease, and accordingly most projects were closed for a long period of time, which led to great damage to the construction sector in particular and the economy of Sudan in general. This research deals with and clarifies the impact of the pandemic on the three aspects of the construction project (cost, time, quality) due to the total or partial closure and the postponement that occurred on all projects and the changes and results that have been reached. A questionnaire was adopted as a methodology for the research that targeted site engineers, design engineers, consultants and real estate owners. Accordingly, it was found that the most prominent effects resulting from the pandemic are lack of employment, lack of productivity and exceeding the project time. Which led to conflicts between the parties of the project, job change or permanently losing them, increasing project costs significantly with a decrease in the number of projects implemented annually, scarcity of building materials, difficulty in transporting and poor quality, in addition to poor storage. Although the Corona pandemic is a harsh experience with many severe consequences, it may be an opportunity to improve how we manage unexpected risks to reduce their effects in the future and prepare for any crisis.