FACTORS CAUSING DELAY IN POST-EARTHQUAKE CONSTRUCTION PROJECTS OF AZAD JAMMU AND KASHMIR

Abstract

Kashmir has been a disputed territory between Pakistan and India since 1947. Therefore, proper attention to develop infrastructure has been a challenge throughout. On 8th October, 2005 a devastating earthquake hit various districts of Azad Jammu & Kashmir. A major loss of lives (above 0.1 million people) and property occurred as a result of the earthquake. After the earthquake, the government as well as some local and international donor agencies including United Nations undertook the task of reconstruction of infrastructure in the region. The development included construction of new buildings, highways and bridges. However, most of these projects were got delayed. In the present research study, qualitative analysis of delay factors was carried out to assess the major problems in the construction projects on the basis of questionnaire survey of major stake holders. The study was undertaken by a questionnaire based survey comprising of 65 delay factors. Data was collected from 48 different projects, 138 respondents including 41 from client, 49 from consultant and 48 responses from contractor from different cities of Azad Jammu & Kashmir, and was analyzed using MS Excel and SPSS-17. The research revealed that shortage of unskilled labor, incomplete documentation for bidding, claiming of commission for approval of work, frequent re-work done by the contractor and effect of weather on projects are the major delay factors for development of proper infrastructure and construction projects in Azad Jammu & Kashmir. All the stakeholders of the construction industry in Azad Jammu & Kashmir should emphasis on the issues ranked higher in the present study to keep their projects on the track and to avoid time overruns. The contractor should make the payments to subcontractors at right time, should have sufficient finances available with him. Contractor should hire well qualified staff for the project which should be well aware of project management process. The client should make the decisions regarding any change at later stages as early as possible, the progress payments that are due to client for contractor should be made at appropriate time and the estimates that are being made at planning and design phase should have maximum precision. The consultant should give his special attention to the issues that are related to change requests. The verification of changes submitted by the contractor should be done as early as possible