Assessing the implications of cost overruns in the construction industry in Ghana
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Date
JUNE 2019
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Abstract
The issue of cost overruns in construction has indeed marred the quest for monetary worth in
contracts executed as the country gears up to fill infrastructural gap as part of efforts towards
national development. The existence of cost overruns has also affected the significant
contributions aimed at the improvement to the overall Gross Domestic Product (GDP). Cost
overruns inevitably yield overruns in construction of projects, the effects of which results in
slippage of project schedules, a situation which does not augurs well for the construction
industry. This, undoubtedly, creates implication of the variations in the budgets earmarked for
the construction. In view of this, the study assessed the implications of cost overruns in the
construction industry in Ghana. As a research design based on qualitative and quantitative
approaches, the study relied on purposive sampling technique, a sample size of 117
respondents was selected for data collection. A 100% response rate was achieved in the
questionnaire administration. There should also be explicit legal regime so as to legislate for
the contractors and consultants to ensure that the best practices and standards tenets of
construction cost estimates are carried out within the legal framework so as to manage cost
overruns in construction. The key findings of study included inadequate skilled in estimating
total project cost and disrespect for expert advice by contractors. It was also discovered that,
problem of non-compliance with laid down rules concerning bidding for contracts, lack of
appropriate bidding process and inadequate measures for evaluating the projects under
construction are contributing factor. Among the key recommendations of the study was that
there should be effective evaluation of project-cost relationship by the appropriate agencies
tasked with the above stated responsibility. Regular time-cost trade-off analysis should be
undertaken at all levels of the progress of the contract to be diligently carried out so as to
shorten the project duration and to further get rid of any possible emergence of cost overruns
in construction.
Description
Thesis submitted to the Department of Construction Technology and Management,
College of Art and Built Environment, Faculty of Built Environment in partial
fulfilment of the requirements of the Award of
Master of Science.
Keywords
Assessing Implications, Cost Overruns, Construction Industry