An Assessment of the Contribution of Poor Front-Ed Project Management of Delay and/or Cost Overrun in the Construction Industry in Tanzania: a case Study of TANESCO Projects

The client’s objective to undertake a construction project is to achieve a structure, which satisfies the desired purposes at a final cost within estimated budget and within scheduled time. Poor front – end project management has been perceived to have a significant contribution to factors causing delay and/or cost overruns. Experience and literature review indicated such factors and data from four sample – TANESCO completed construction projects that suffered delay and or cost overrun were collected by studying contract documents, drawing, tendering documents progress and close out reports with the aim of ascertaining the factors. Also, primary data and information was collected from client’s staff, contactors and consultants using interview methods to assess the contribution of poor front-end management to those factors that cause delay and/or cost overruns. Analysis of the data was done using Siegel technique. Result of the case study indicated that contribution of poor front-end management was highest on the factor of finance followed by project organization, Planning and controlling and Changes in design and scope of the project, Beyond Control of Project Management and lastly by Contractual Relationship. It was concluded that good project management at the early stages of the project focused at those factors can provide significant opportunities for eliminating or reducing delay and/or cost overrun; and recommended that poor front-end project management could be mitigated by engaging a qualified Project Manager and by conducting feasibility study right at the inception of the project.