Failure Cause In Capital Construction Projects : AComarative Study Between Saudi & Sudanese Construction Industries

Abstract

Construction projects more often face some discrepancies/failures (in almost all aspects) by the end of their stated completion times. However, these discrepancies are generally deviations from the contract or/and the project plan, are relatively, acceptable or rejectable, differing from person to person, or country to another, relevant to specific predetermined scale based on specific point of view. Unfortunately, sometimes the non logical acceptance leads to undesired outcomes. Through time these discrepancies become part of the industry culture. In this study the author intends to allocate the most common causes of failures and measure their impact on the progress and completion of a construction project, and comparing them between two different (concepts/cases) applying different standards or environmental settings, i.e., the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the Republic of Sudan. Many attempts have been made to identify the causes of failure, and to highlight the most important ones. It is necessary to create awareness about these causes, their frequency and the extent to which failure can adversely affect the project progression, delivery or cost. It is also useful to benchmark these causes of failure in different countries in order to share practical solutions. This study presents the results of a survey undertaken to determine and evaluate the most severe and most frequent factors causing failure in the construction projects in Saudi Arabian and Sudan. A questionnaire was randomly administered to a number of construction contractors, consultants, and owners. The main causes of failure are collected, presented and analyzed according to their frequency of occurrence and severity. The results of the study show that construction projects suffer everywhere, but with different magnitudes, e.g. construction projects in developing countries suffer failures more than developed countries do, and some countries suffer more than others within the developing countries.