Main challenges of road infrastructure development projects in Malawi - A Case study of six road projects

Abstract

The aim of the study is to highlight challenges in road infrastructure development projects in Malawi. The research has outlined causes of the challenges in the road infrastructure development projects as well as described methods of averting these challenges to achieve efficiency and increase value for money for the projects. An inductive research approach has been used in this study since information was collected which was used to draw up conclusions involving deriving a general principle from a set of observations. The principles of project management were used to assess a sample of projects which were studied. The sampled projects included those which had been closed, running projects and those which were just commencing. The case study projects were as follows: Karonga – Chitipa Road, Blantyre – Zomba Road, Nchalo - Bangula Road, Kasungu – Msulira Road, Mzimba – Eswanzini – Mzalangwe Road and Jenda – Edingeni Road. The study has revealed that the challenges that are frequently highlighted to have influenced performance of projects in the road sector include: design errors, design changes, delayed site handovers, increased quantities, devaluation of the Malawi Kwacha currency, abnormal rainfall, missing BOQ items, additional work, change of supervision consultant, delayed payment, limited payments, non-availability of fuel, breakdown of plant and vehicles, delayed approval of designs, delayed approval of addendum, non-availability of base gravel, delays in evaluating and agreeing on claims, tendering procedures, contractor’s delays and variations. These results were triangulated by carrying out unstructured interviews with case study project coordinators and also by getting data from other main stakeholders who were involved in the case study projects using a questionnaire. After analysing the data from the six case study projects, the research has revealed that considering the project cycle, the major challenges in road sector projects are at implementation and, monitoring and evaluation stages. These challenges are mainly mis-procurement, corruption in the system and lack of funds for an entire project. The study further revealed that major causes of these challenges are: corruption, political interference, greed, lack of capacity, poor loan negotiation skills, poor project estimates and poor phasing of projects.