Assessment of the application of project time management principles and practices in selected road construction projects in Tanzania: the case of two projects namely; upgrading of Ndundu-Somanga road project to bitumen standard (57km) and upgrading of Mtwara corridor to bitumen standard lot 2: Peramiho-Mbinga (78km)

The intention of the study was assessment of how project time management principles and practices are applied in Road Construction Projects in Tanzania using case studies of two projects namely; Upgrading of Ndundu-Somanga road project to bitumen standard (57km) and Upgrading of Mtwara Corridor to bitumen standard Lot 2: Peramiho-Mbinga (78km). Both projects were undertaken by foreign contractors registered in Class 1 with the CRB. The study also intended to identify causes of poor time management and suggestions on the way forward. The study was based on a survey using questionnaires combined with desk study of projects documents through prepared checklist of the processes. Through questionnaire, 60 respondents were asked to give their opinions in the Likert scale ranging from 1=strongly disagree, 2=disagree, 3=neutral, 4=agree, 5=strongly agree on the application of the processes, causes of poor time management and the way forward. The study used SPSS to perform multiple linear regression and T-test of the collected data. The processes were better applied in project two (57%) which was finished almost on time compared to (41%) for project one leading to conclude that; the project can be finished on time if these practices are well applied. Lastly the causes of poor time management in project one were identified as inadequate management, delay of payments and miscalculations, since their p-values (correlation strength) from analysis were less than 0.05. Therefore, the study recommends more improvements to be done on these causes as measures to be taken to improve applications of project time management principles and practices in road construction projects to reduce delays.