Analysis of Labour Productivity of Road Construction Projects in Pakistan

Abstract

Labour productivity is one of the most frequently discussed topics in construction industry as it is directly related to profitability of construction projects. It is the ratio of work hours consumed by the labour to quantity of work produced by them. There are lot of research studies carried out in developed countries related to Construction labour productivity. Consequently, developed countries have significantly improved their output results whereas the developing countries lag behind even by using more human resources. Like other developing countries, Pakistan is also facing poor labour productivity issues. Factors effecting labour productivity in Pakistan must, therefore, be identified and analysed for development of system to improve labour productivity. Labour productivity is often more critical issue for road projects due to its laborious nature of work, distance from population centres and more users. Very few research studies, related to labour productivity of road construction, have been found in the past literature. Moreover, the factors which affect the labour productivity of construction projects can vary depending upon the nature of construction, situation and circumstances of the country. A detailed research study was, therefore, carried out related to labour productivity of road construction in Pakistan comprising of five phases. In first phase, thorough literature review was carried to conceptualize the current status of labour productivity. In second phase, factors affecting labour productivity in road construction were identified through a questionnaire based survey. The top five most critical factors, contributing to poor labour productivity of road construction , identified were poor salary, poor execution plan, inefficient equipment, improper material storage location and on time material unavailability. In third phase, impacts of different categories of factors on road project cost were evaluated through questionnaire based survey. The impact was estimated in percentage of project cost based on the experience of respondents regarding road projects. The top three most significant factors ranked by the respondents were planning factors, external and administrative factors with probable impacts more than 30% on project cost. In fourth phase, an empirical research, based on case studies, was also executed in AJ&K on highway projects to measure the labour productivity and analyse the effects of different labour productivity factors in highway construction. In last phase, a questionnaire survey was carried out to locate the improvement factors which could contribute to labour productivity enhancement in road projects of Pakistan. The top five most significant factors ranked were definite scheduling, incentive payments, worker's security, clear assignment of roles or responsibilities and controlled change of tasks. Eventually, based on these results, recommendations are proffered in the study. This research will help researchers and construction management officials to understand and grasp the labour productivity issues associated with road projects and their consequent impact on highway projects. This research would also pave the way for visualization of aspects necessary to improve labour productivity of road projects, especially in Pakistan.