A model for the successful completion of public sector construction and engineering projects in South Africa.

Abstract

The construction and engineering industry has regularly been described as suffering from poor performance such as time and schedule overruns, quality defects, poor health and safety performance, fragmentation, poor communications, adversarial relationships and lack of co-ordination between the various project stakeholders. There has been little written in the South African public sector context regarding the key operational strategies of responding to these challenges that pervade the sector. Prior to the implementation of any meaningful interventions or strategies for improvement can be developed, it is essential to gain an in-depth understanding of the nature and extent of current practices at the operational level in the South African public sector. It is important to acknowledge the foundational issues, so that effective solutions may be implemented to assist in the improvement of project delivery. Due to the ever-present challenges with public sector infrastructure delivery, it is of national importance to understand critical theories behind current practices and the role of industry stakeholders, if the effective implementation of proposed strategies is to occur. The construction and engineering industry is extremely project-centric, operating in an environment of great complexity and uncertainty which is exacerbated by fragmentation in the supply chain processes; stakeholder influences; complex project characteristics and challenges such as the poor flow of information, conflicts and disputes; socio-economic factors and national and global dynamics. Consequently, delays and disruptions have become endemic to the industry. Inapt strategies have resulted in further delays, disruptions, disputes and increased costs, with rising levels of dissatisfaction among clients and end users. Several studies have found that clients are becoming dissatisfied with the outcome of construction and engineering projects as their expectations have not been met. Reasons posited have included apart from the issues raised above, includes, lagging behind in technological advancement, the overall development of operational processes and not keeping abreast of societal and industry trends. This research study highlighted the nature and extent of the challenges, systemic bottlenecks and factors that result in delays, disruptions and strategies through six constructs and 38 factors that influence successful construction and engineering project delivery in the South African public sector. The findings concluded with the development of a Strategic Infrastructure Delivery Management Model for implementation by public sector institutions and key industry stakeholders, through the integrated of advanced technological software programs that reflect the five essential constructs and associated factors identified through extensive structural equation modelling.