Chidambaram Ramanathan

Bio: Chidambaram Ramanathan is an academic researcher from Universiti Teknologi Petronas. The author has contributed to research in topics: Cost overrun & Project management. The author has an hindex of 3, co-authored 3 publications receiving 161 citations.

Construction delays causing risks on time and cost - a critical review

Abstract: There is an increase in the number of construction projects experiencing extensive delays leading to exceeding initial time and cost budget. This paper reviews 41 studies around the world which surveyed the delay factors and classified them into Groups. The main purpose of this paper is to review literature, each of which have categorized the causes that are responsible for time delays and cost overrun in projects. The collected list has 113 causes for delays categorized in to 18 different groups. Most of the researches have analysed the responses from the Questionnaire survey. The collected data are used to rank the problem. The data are further used to investigate and analyse Important Index, Frequency Index, Severity Index, Relative Important Index, Relative Importance Weight, Weighted Average, Mean, Standard Deviation and Variance. The collective comparison has revealed that the ranking given by all the researchers is not the same. Further each and every study has different rank ratings for the different group of the delays. This review paper attempts to provide an updated compilation of the earlier studies on ranking of the delay causers, which are never similar and constant for universal projects. It is concluded that a separate study is required for identifying the factors causing delay for projects operated in Sabah, East Malaysia.

Analysis of Time and Cost Overrun in Malaysian Construction

Abstract: The construction industry in Malaysia is very important for creating employment, both directly and indirectly. It faces two repeated problems during the construction stage: slippage of project-schedules, i.e. time overrun and overrun of project cost; to the dislike of owners, contractors and consultants. This paper studies the time delay and cost overrun factors for Design and Build DB contributing for better project performance and lead to positive risks, opportunities.

Case study and survey on time and cost overrun of multiple D&B projects

Abstract: Current trend of Design and Build (D&B) has gained popularity in the construction Industry due to its attractive financial aspects. The development projects are implemented by D&B for its special nature, crucial time and size. Many of this D&B projects had ended in the hands of contractors unable to proceed the projects within agreed time and price. Even some of those completed projects were committed to begin implementation without carrying any analyze of risks involved. They are basically committed by judgement and inadequate experience. The risk of time and cost overrun is more while committing to multiple simultaneous projects. Even though there were studies conducted for Risk management of projects and studies on contractors' view of D&B projects, so far there are no studies conducted on time and cost risks of D&B projects. In addition to study further for multiple projects. The aim of this study is to identify elements and procedures to analyse and overcome the risks of the important components of time and cost in management of multiple D&B bridge projects. The research has dual approach by conducting questionnaire survey and multiple case studies for the analysis and findings. This will encourage the industrial practitioners to prepare a practical risk response plan to complete the projects successfully.

Exploring delay causes of road construction projects in Egypt

Abstract: Construction delays are a common phenomenon in civil engineering projects in Egypt including road construction projects. Therefore, it is essential to study and analyze causes of road construction delays. This paper studied a list of construction delay causes gathered from literature having different types of construction, different countries, different periods and different numbers of delay causes and delay groups. A questionnaire and personal interviews have formed the basis of this paper listing 293 delay causes. The questionnaire survey was distributed to 500 construction participants and 389 were received who represent consultants, contractors and site/design engineers excluding the owner representing the government in road projects as one party only. Relative Importance Index (RII) is calculated and according to the highest values the top twenty and the least twenty delay causes of construction projects in Egypt are determined. A case study is analyzed and compared to the most important delay causes in the paper. The test results reveal good correlation of causes and groups between contractors and site/design engineers and between consultants and site design engineers and a somewhat low correlation between contractors and consultants. So there are no root causes that can be taking for granted to be most or least effective delay causes. Proposed model for predicting actual road construction project duration was developed; a real case study tested the accuracy of proposed model. According to the analysis of case study, the most contributing causes and groups to delays were discussed, and some future recommendations were proposed in order to control and minimize delays in road construction projects. These findings can be helpful for project managers to mitigate the road construction delays in Egypt. In order to effectively overcome the road construction delays in developing countries, suggestions are made for fundamental and large‐scale reforms in procurement systems and stakeholders’ management. Also, this paper is useful for both researchers and road construction parties and allows detailed and repeatable analysis of the progress of a road construction project in order to facilitate and achieve a competitive level of time, cost and quality for effective road construction projects.

The top 10 universal delay factors in construction projects

Abstract: Projects often face delays and unnecessary use of time due to various factors and reasons, and hence suffer from unfavourable consequences. The purpose of this paper is to identify the universal delay factors from an intensive literature review, complemented by delay factors in major Norwegian construction projects based on empirical data.,The study in which this paper is based includes an intensive literature review, and semi-quantitative open survey questionnaires. This paper addresses frequency and type of delay factors in construction projects, in Norway based on the survey, and worldwide based on the previous studies.,From the study, the causes of delays facing the Norwegian construction industry are: poor planning and scheduling; slow/poor decision-making process; internal administrative procedures and bureaucracy within project organisations; resources shortage (human resources, machinery, equipment); poor communication and coordination between parties; slow quality inspection process of the completed work; design changes during construction/change orders; sponsor/owner/client lack of commitment and/or clear demands (goals and objectives); late/slow/incomplete/improper design; office issues; and users’ issues. And the top 10 universal delay factors are: design changes during construction/change orders; delays in payment of contractor(s); poor planning and scheduling; poor site management and supervision; incomplete or improper design; inadequate contractor experience/building methods and approaches; contractor’s financial difficulties; sponsor/owner/client’s financial difficulties; resources shortage (human resources, machinery, equipment); and poor labour productivity and shortage of skills.,When it comes to the identification of delay factors in major Norwegian projects, the research is based on a sample of 202 respondents from an open survey questionnaire. It should be noted that analysing a large population of respondents that have been asked open questions can be challenging due to the vague findings it might lead to. Also, when it comes to the identification of the universal delay factors, there were different methods used by different authors, within different context. Similar future studies in Norway based on qualitative and quantitative methods will give better verification for the findings.,This paper has documented the critical delay factors/causes in Norway. The results of this study will help project managers, in Norway and elsewhere, to be aware and know about the potential causes of delay in their construction projects, which will help to identify the possible risks in the early phases of the project. Another practical implication is to make project managers and policy makers conscious that delays are quite universal, making it necessary to identify them as a first step.,The identification of delays factors and causes can permit projects to implement mitigation actions to avoid delays, thus allowing delivering schools, hospitals and other necessary infrastructure on schedule or ahead of schedule to society.,This paper highlights most (almost all) of the studies in the literature, including to the study done in Norway, concerning the delay factors in construction projects and large construction projects in general. This wide review of relevant literature will save time other academicians from having to conduct similar studies. This study will assist both academic and professional experts providing more insight about the delay causes in large-scale construction projects.

Factors contributing to project time and hence cost overrun in the Malaysian construction industry

Abstract: Purpose – The delivery of construction projects in Malaysia is plagued by time overruns, which turns what should have been successful projects into those incurring additional costs, or money-losing ventures; as well as leading to various other unexpected negative effects and faute de mieux situations. The purpose of this research is to assess those factors leading to time overrun in Malaysian construction projects. The perceptions of public and private sectors, contractors, clients, and consultants are compared relative to a list of factors derived from the review of extant literature in project delay. Design/methodology/approach – The research data were collected through an industry-wide questionnaire survey circulated across the Malaysian construction industry. The research develops a list of 84 time overrun factors. Responses were collected from 49 clients, 51 contractors, and 105 consultants, to explore and analyse the major factors that are responsible for causing time overrun based on sectors (publi...