The adherence to planned budget and time schedule of engineering construction projects is an important indicator for the successful project planning and implementation. Most of the Palestinian governmental and municipal organizations face technical and financial challenges during the planning, bidding, and execution phases of their projects. The paper investigates and assesses the cost changes and delays for a sample of forty-six municipal road projects that were executed as part of the Municipal Development Program, financed through a multi-donor fund, administered by the Municipal Development and Lending Fund, and followed up by local consultants. It supports small- to medium-sized municipal projects, mainly roads, and has restrictions on budget and time changes. The findings indicate that there are limited cost deviations with an average of about 5% and that about 8% of the projects suffered from unjustified delays. The paper analyzes the reasons behind the noticed cost and/or time deviations, which include the underestimation of the project budget, delay by the contractors, lack of deterrent measures, and addition of new items or making changes in the scope of the project that result in variation orders. Recommended actions are identified, which are expected to contribute to reducing the consequences of the indicated challenges.

Title

Ain Shams Engineering Journal

Publisher

Elsevier

Publisher Country

Netherlands

Indexing

Thomson Reuters

Impact Factor

3.18

Publication Type

Both (Printed and Online)

Volume

--

Year

2022

Pages

--