Jordan Journal of Civil Engineering, Volume 9, No.

2, 2015

Causes of Delay in Public Construction Projects in Iraq

Ghanim A. Bekr
1)
P P Associate Prof., Civil Engineering Dept., College of Engineering, Applied Science University, Amman, Jordan.
E-Mail: ghanimbekr@yahoo.com

ABSTRACT
Construction industry is considered as one of the most important industries in Iraq. It is well known that most
construction projects in this country are exposed to time and cost overrun or both.
The main objective of this study is to find the most important causes of delay in public projects in Iraq. This
objective was achieved through an intensive literature review and a survey which included a questionnaire
used to assess the perceptions of the main participants involved in the construction of the projects.
The questionnaire was divided into three parts. The main part focused on the causes of delay in construction
sites. The 65 causes compiled through the literature review and the pilot study were classified into four
groups (client related, contractor related, consultant related and external factors).
Answers were collected from 134 participants representing the three parties involved in the construction of
the projects.
Analysis was carried out to find the amount of delay suffered by the projects, as well as the indices related to
frequency of occurrence, severity and importance of the four groups. In addition, ranking of the 65 factors
was carried out to identify the most crucial causes of delay.
It was concluded that the most effective delay factors affecting the time overrun in the public projects in Iraq
are: security measures, government change of regulations and bureaucracy, official and non-official holidays,
low performance of lowest bidder contractors in the government tendering system, design and changes by
owner, design changes by consultants, delay in progress payments by the owner, problems with local
community, owner’s lack of experience in construction and economic local and global conditions.

KEYWORDS: Iraq, Government, Construction, Public projects, Delay, Time overrun.

INTRODUCTION construction project has been extended or not

performed due to anticipated circumstances”. Aibinu
Delays occur in almost every construction project, and Jagboro (2002) defined delay as a situation where
and their effect on the performance of the project, contractor and project owner jointly or separately
might be very significant. In order to minimize or contribute to the non-completion of the project within
avoid these delays, it is important to identify their the original or the stipulated or agreed contract period.
actual causes. According to Assaf and Al-Hejji (2006), delay was
Construction delays can be defined in different defined as “the time overruns either beyond the
ways. Bramble and Callahan (1987) have argued that completion date specified in a contract or beyond the
“a delay is the time during which some part of the date that the parties agreed upon for the delivery of a
project”.
Accepted for Publication on 20/6/2014.

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Causes of Delay… Ghanim A. Bekr

Therefore, the delay in a construction project is these occur due to the contractor’s weakness or not
time overrun or time extension beyond the agreed caused by the contractor but should be anticipated by
completion time. the contractor under normal conditions. 3. Concurrent
delays; these delays are due to the combination of two
OBJECTIVE or more independent causes of delay during the same
period. These delays may lead to disputes between the
The main objective of this study is to identify the contractor and the client.
most important causes of delay in public construction
projects in Iraq. This study identifies the causes of LITERATURE REVIEW
delay from the point of view of the three major parties
involved in any construction project; namely, clients, Many studies and papers have been published on
consultants and contractors. the subject of causes of delay in building and civil
engineering projects. These studies have been carried
Scope of the Study out internationally and in developing countries. As Iraq
The study included projects in the middle and south is one of the developing countries, more attention is
of Iraq; all being public (government) construction given to the research work in these countries.
projects. The northern region of Iraq (Kurdistan) had a The study of Baldwin et al. (1971) was carried out
considerable amount of stability for several years; to determine the causes of delay in the construction
while federal Iraq has suffered political and security industry in the United States. Mansfield (1992)
difficulties over the past decade. investigated the causes of delay and cost overruns that
affect completed highway projects in Nigeria.
Classification of Delay Assaf et al. (1995) studied the causes of delay in
Delay in construction can be classified in different large building projects in Saudi Arabia and their
ways. Ahmed et al. (2003) classified delays into two importance. The researchers included (56) causes in
groups. These are: internal causes and external causes. their survey distributed over nine major groups. The
Internal causes arise from the parties to the contract. survey included the clients, consultants and
External causes arise from events beyond the contract contractors. Also, Assaf and Al-Hejji (2006) conducted
of the parties. a time performance survey of different types of projects
Bolton (1990) classified delay as follows: 1. in Saudi Arabia to determine their importance
Excusable but non-compensable delays; these are according to each project participant (client, consultant
delays caused by occurrences which are not attributable and contractor). They identified (73) causes of delay
to any of the parties. 2. Compensable delays; these during the study.
delays result from acts or omissions of the owner or Al-Khalil and Al-Ghafly (1999) studied the delay in
someone for whose acts the owner is liable. 3. public water and sewage projects. Sixty (60) causes
Inexcusable delays; these delays result from an own were identified and classified. Ogunlana et al. (1996)
fault of the contractor, his subcontractors or material studied the delays in building projects in Thailand as an
suppliers. example of developing contries.
Delays can also be grouped into three types Mobarak (2004) studied the role of consultancy in
(Bramble and Callahan, 1987): 1.Excusable delays minimizing the delays in large projects and showed
which occur for reasons beyond the contractor’s possible categorizations of causes of delay such as
control. These can be further divided into compensable internal and external, financial and non-financial.
and non-compensable delays. 2. Non-excusable delays; Construction delay problem in Egypt was studied by

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Jordan Journal of Civil Engineering, Volume 9, No. 2, 2015

Amer (1994) through the analysis of causes that al. (2011) studied the impact of delay in Libyan
contribute to construction delays in order to improve construction projects by identifying and ranking the
the ability to implement construction projects with delay factors. The critical factors found in Libyan
minimum delay. construction projects were: low skills of manpower,
In Jordan, two studies were identified. Sweis et al. changes in the scope of the project, slowness in giving
(2008) studied causes of delay in residential projects instructions,… etc. Statistical tests were run to test the
and concluded that financial difficulties faced by the significance of the data and found that the results were
contractor and the large amount of change orders by significant. Albogamy et al. (2012) studied the causes
the client are the leading causes of construction delay. of delay in public building projects in Saudi Arabia
The second study, conducted by Al-Momani (2000), with their relative importance. The survey conducted
investigated the causes of delay in 130 public projects included 63 delay factors. The research revealed that
in Jordan which included residential, office and the contractor related and owner/client related factors
administration buildings, school buildings, medical are the most critical factors that lead to delay the
centers and communication facilities. The study construction projects in Saudi Arabia.
revealed that the most important delay causes in public
buildings are related to: designer, client’s changes, RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
weather, site conditions, late deliveries, economic
conditions and increase in quantity. The objectives of the research defined earlier were
Kaming et al. (1997) studied the factors influencing achieved through a literature review and a survey. The
(31) high rise buildings in Indonesia. The study found survey included a questionnaire used to assess the
that the major factors causing delays are design perceptions of clients, contractors and consultants on
changes, poor labor productivity, inadequate planning the relative importance of causes and effects of delay in
and resource shortages. Iraqi construction industry. The questionnaire was
There are many other research works carried out in divided into three parts. The first included general
other developing countries. In Malaysia, two studies information about the respondents and their roles,
were sighted. Sambasvian and Soon (2007) identified experience and types of construction they are involved
the delay factors and their impacts on project in, to explore the amount of delay they experienced.
completion. The results pointed to 10 out of 28 causes The second part, and the most important one, focused
of delays. Among them are: poor contractor’s planning on causes of construction delay. The respondents were
and site management, client’s inadequate financial requested to indicate their response to the frequency of
resources and payments for completed works, problems occurrence and degree of severity of 65 well-
with sub-contractors,… etc. A similar study by recognized construction delay factors. These causes
Alaghbari et al. (2007) identified (31) causes of delay. were categorized into the following four groups of
The study revealed that the most important causes are: factors:
financial problems and coordination problems. Group 1: Client related factors, including 17 factors
Kumaraswamy et al. (1998) surveyed the causes of (factor 1 to factor 17).
delay in Hong Kong. They found that there was a Group 2: Contractor related factors, including 25
difference in perceptions as to causes of delay by factors (factor 18 to factor 42).
different groups of participants in building and civil Group 3: Consultant related factors, including 11
engineering works. factors (factor 43 to factor 53).
Two studies related to Saudi Arabia and Libya are Group 4: External factors, including 12 factors (factor
taken as examples for developing countries. Shebob et 54 to factor 65).

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Causes of Delay… Ghanim A. Bekr

The third part of the questionnaire focused on the taking in view the three parties mentioned.
effects of construction delay on Iraqi construction Recommendations for minimizing delay in
industry. The six effects of delay identified were: time construction projects were emphasized in view of the
overrun, cost overrun, disputes, arbitration, litigation results of the survey.
and abandonment of the project.
The form was designed for each cause of delay or DATA ANALYSIS
effect on the project. The respondent score ranges from
1 to 5 depending on the frequency of occurrence and The collected data were analyzed through the
the severity of the cause or effect of delay on the following statistical techniques and indices:
project; as 1 for not effective and 5 to very effective.
The population of the study was based on Frequency Index: A formula is used to rank the
construction parties (clients, contractors and causes of delay based on frequency of occurrence as
consultants) in cities located in the middle and southern identified by the participants.
regions of Iraq. Cities in the northern region of Iraq
were not included due to the fact that the government’s Frequency Index (F.I) (%) = ∑ a (n/N) * 100/5. (1)
regulations, security measures and conditions of work
in these cities are considerably different. Severity Index: A formula is used to rank the
Prior to the final formulation of the form, a pilot causes of delay based on severity as indicated by the
survey was conducted. The main purpose was to participants.
eliminate the less important questions and to check the
clarity and feasibility assurance. The pilot study was Severity Index (S.I) (%) = ∑ a (n/N) * 100 / 5 …… (2)
carried out with the help of 10 engineers with an
experience of more than 20 years. The form was Importance Index: The importance index of each
revised in accordance of the notes received. cause is calculated as a function of both frequency and
The forms were distributed to a wide range of severity indices, as follows:
engineering staff representing parties involved in the
construction process (clients, consultants and Importance Index (I.I)(%)= [F.I (%)* S.I (%)]/100.. (3)
contractors). Number of sets distributed and received is
shown in Table (1). where (a) is the constant expressing weight given to
each response (range from 1 to 5), n is the frequency of
Table 1. Number of questionnaire sets the response and N is the total number of responses.

Clients Consultants Contractors Total

ANALYSIS OF RESULTS
Number 100 100 100 300
distributed
General Information of the Participants
Number 44 48 45 134
Respondents included 43 clients, 46 consultants and
received
45 contractors. These have an average experience of 17
Response 44% 48% 45% 45%
years, 20 years and 18 years, respectively. The study
rate
covered only public sector projects. The participating
clients included government ministries (Youth and
Data were gathered through the survey, analyzed
Sport, Municipalities, Housing and Public Works,
using frequency, severity and importance indices,
Justice, Governorate of Basra,… etc.). Contracting

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Jordan Journal of Civil Engineering, Volume 9, No. 2, 2015

companies, in general, included only high classified crucial delay factor related to client is “low
ones. Types of projects the participants are involved in performance of the lowest bidder contractors in the
are: sport facilities, public buildings, water supply, Iraqi government tendering system". This factor was
water treatment plants, housing complexes,… etc. ranked at the first place due to an important index rate
The majority of the respondents, about 48%, are of 38.63 (63.13 for frequency index and 61.19 for
Civil Engineers, while 17% and 12% are Project severity index). The other important key factors related
Managers and Architects, respectively. The other to the client which are causing delay problems are:
professions of the respondents were: Electrical design changes by the owner, delay in progress
Engineers, Mechanical Engineers,… etc. payments by the owner, owner's lack of experience in
Nature of business that respondents are involved in construction and poor qualification of supervision staff
shows that the largest proportion of them, about 77%, of the owner’s engineer. The respondents believe that
are working in actual construction work. Also, 12% “difficulties in obtaining work permits from the
and 7% are working in engineering consultancy and authorities” is the least influencing factor in this
provision of architectural engineering services category causing delays with an importance index of
respectively. 21.20.
Most of the respondents hold a bachelor degree
with those having postgraduate qualifications The averages of the group indices related to
accounting for only 12% of the total number. frequency, severity and importance are: 54.92, 53.94
As observed above, about 65% of the respondents and 29.62, respectively.
have an experience between 10 and 15 years. A
cumulative total of 86% of the survey respondents have Contractor Related Delay Factors
more than 10 years working experience. The contractor related factors considered were 25
delay factors included in the survey. Table (3) shows
Amount of Delays Suffered by the Projects the results of each factor based on frequency, severity
None of the 134 participants who contributed to the and importance indices. Delay caused by “Poor
survey indicated that the projects experienced suffer no qualification, skills and experience of the contractor’s
delay. Only about 2% of the participants indicated that technical staff” ranks first with frequency, severity and
there is a time overrun of less than 10% of the original importance indices of 55.22, 52.54 and 29.01,
time of the project. The other participants indicated that respectively. The next seven causes of delay according
the percentages of project overrun are: more than 10% to their respective importance indices are: Poor
up to 30%, more than 30% up to 50%, more than 50% controlling of subcontractors by contractor
up to 70%, more than 70% up to 90% and more than (relationships, payments…), cash flow problems faced
90%; with the corresponding percentages of the by the contractor, slow preparation of change order
participants of: 13%, 18%, 27%, 20% and 11%, requests by the contractor, poor planning and
respectively. About 9% of the participants experienced scheduling of the project by the contractor, poor site
project abandonment. management and supervision by the contractor,
improper construction methods implemented by the
Client Related Delay Factors contractor and material quality problems. The averages
There were 17 client related factors included in the of the group indices related to frequency, severity and
questionnaire. Table (2) presents the results based on importance are: 47.34, 47.50 and 22.49, respectively.
frequency, severity and importance indices. The most

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Table 2. Ranking of sources (groups) of delay by the clients

Frequency of
Severity Importance
Sources (groups) of delay Occurrence
Index Rank Index Rank Index Rank
Low performance of the lowest bidder 63.13 1 61.19 1 38.63 1
contractors in the Iraqi government
tendering system
Design changes by the owner 62.54 2 60.00 2 37.54 2

Delay in progress payments by the owner 60.00 4 58.66 3 35.20 3

Owners’ lack of experience in construction 60.30 3 56.87 4 34.29 4

Poor qualification of supervision staff of the 56.42 8 56.57 5 31.92 5

owner's engineer

Uncooperative owner with the contractor or 57.46 6 55.22 7 31.73 6

consultant
Lack of coordination with contractors 57.46 5 53.88 9 30.96 7

Inadequate early planning of the project 56.57 7 54.33 8 30.73 8

Breach or modification of contract by the 55.37 10 55.22 6 30.58 9

owner
Delay in the approval of the contractor 55.67 9 53.73 10 29.91 10
submittals to the owner
Insufficient available utilities on site 53.73 11 52.99 12 28.47 11

Contract duration to construction of project 52.54 13 53.58 11 28.15 12

is too short
Slow decision making process of the owner 52.54 12 50.75 14 26.66 13

Mistakes in soil investigation 50.30 14 52.69 13 26.50 14

Changes in the scope of the project 47.91 15 48.66 15 23.31 15

Delay in delivering the site to the contractor 45.07 17 47.31 16 21.32 16

Difficulties in obtaining work permits 46.57 16 45.52 17 21.20 17

from the authorities

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Table 3. Ranking of sources (groups) of delay by the contractors

Frequency of
Severity Importance
Sources (groups) of delay Occurrence
Index Rank Index Rank Index Rank
Poor qualification, skills and experience of the 55.22 1 52.54 1 29.01 1
contractor’s technical staff
Poor controlling of subcontractors by contractor 52.84 4 51.94 5 27.44 2
(relationships, payments...)
Cash flow problems faced by the contractor 51.19 7 52.99 2 27.13 3
Slow preparation of change order requests by the 53.28 3 50.75 6 27.04 4
contractor
Poor planning and scheduling of the project by the 51.64 5 52.09 3 26.90 5
contractor
Poor site management and supervision by the 51.49 6 52.09 4 26.82 6
contractor
Improper construction methods implemented by the 54.18 2 50.75 7 26.59 7
contractor
Material quality problems 49.70 9 50.15 8 24.93 8
Delay in site mobilization 50.12 8 49.06 10 24.59 9
Shortage of construction material 47.46 10 48.21 11 22.88 10
Equipment availability and failure 46.42 11 49.25 9 22.86 11
Delay in preparation of shop drawings 45.67 16 47.31 12 21.61 12
Delay of material supply 45.82 14 47.01 13 21.54 13
Difficulties in obtaining work permits from the 46.42 12 45.97 16 21.34 14
authorities concerned
Poor manpower productivity 45.82 15 46.12 15 21.13 15
Shortage of qualified engineers 45.97 13 45.97 17 21.13 16
Delay due to sub-contractor work 45.07 17 46.27 14 20.86 17
High number of contractor by the same contractor 43.88 21 45.97 18 20.17 18
Poor communication by the contractor with the 44.48 19 45.07 20 20.05 19
parties involved in the project
Delay in the preparation of contractor document 42.69 23 45.97 19 19.62 20
submissions
Mistakes and rework due to errors during 44.03 20 44.48 21 19.58 21
construction by the contractor
Breach of contract by the contractor 43.58 22 43.73 22 19.05 22
Delay in test samples of materials 42.24 24 43.43 23 18.34 23
Shortage in equipment availability 44.63 18 39.1 25 17.44 24
Technical problems in project site by the contractor 39.70 25 41.34 24 16.41 25

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of the consultant to the project, deficiency in drawings,

poor qualification of supervision staff of the consultant
Delay Factors Caused by the Consultant engineer, absence of consultant’s site staff and delay in
The survey included 11 delay factors related to the giving instructions. The least important factor within
consultant. Table (4) shows the results of each factor this group is “design errors and discrepancies in
based on frequency, severity and importance indices. contract documents” with an importance index of
Delay due to “design changes” is the most crucial 19.92. The averages of the group indices related to
factor with indices of 61.64, 60.45 and 37.26, frequency, severity and importance are: 50.58, 50.27
respectively. The next five delay causes according to and 25.43, respectively.
their importance indices are: inadequate qualification

Table 4. Ranking of sources (groups) of delay by the consultants

Frequency of
Severity Importance
Sources (groups) of delay Occurrence
Index Rank Index Rank Index Rank
Design changes 61.64 1 60.45 1 37.26 1
Inadequate qualification of the consultant 56.27 2 55.22 2 31.07 2
to the project
Deficiency in drawings 55.22 3 54.63 3 30.17 3
Poor qualification of supervision staff of 51.64 4 49.10 5 25.36 4
the consultant engineer
Absence of consultant’s site staff 50.00 6 49.40 4 24.70 5
Delay in giving instructions 50.45 5 48.66 7 24.55 6
Delay in approval of shop drawings 47.61 7 48.66 8 23.16 7
Design errors made by the designers due 47.31 8 48.81 6 23.09 8
to unfamiliarity with local conditions and
environment
Poor communication and coordination by 46.12 9 46.57 10 21.47 9
the consultant engineer
Documents not issued on time 45.22 10 47.16 9 21.33 10
Design errors and discrepancies in 44.93 11 44.33 11 19.92 11
contract documents

Delay Causes Due to External Factors with, also, relatively high indices of 69.55, 69.55 and
There were 12 external factors included in the 48.37. The next most effective factors are: official and
questionnaire. Table (5) shows the results of the study non-official holidays, problems with local community,
based on frequency, severity and importance indices. It economic conditions; local and global and lack of
was found that “security measures” is the most communication between different parties. The averages
important factor with relatively high indices of 76.87, of the group indices related to frequency, severity and
75.07 and 57.70. The second most important factor is importance are 56.14, 55.95 and 31.34, respectively.
“government change of regulations and bureaucracy

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Jordan Journal of Civil Engineering, Volume 9, No. 2, 2015

Table 5. Ranking of sources (groups) of delay by the external factors

Frequency of
Severity Importance
Sources (groups) of delay Occurrence
Index Rank Index Rank Index Rank
Security measures 76.87 1 75.07 1 57.70 1
Government change of regulations and 69.55 2 69.55 2 48.37 2
bureaucracy
Official and non-official holidays 63.28 3 67.46 3 42.69 3
Problems with local community 54.33 5 63.13 4 34.30 4
Economic conditions; local or global 58.51 4 54.78 5 32.05 5
Lack of communication between different 50.30 6 50.60 6 25.45 6
parties
Unforeseen site conditions and geological 48.36 8 50.15 7 24.25 7
factors
Rise in the prices of materials 48.66 7 49.25 8 23.96 8
Delays in resolving contractual issues 43.43 12 52.99 9 23.02 9
Conflict between contractor, owner and 47.91 9 46.27 10 22.17 10
consultant
Weather conditions effect on construction 46.57 11 46.12 11 21.48 11
activities
External work due to public agencies 46.72 10 45.97 12 21.47 12
(roads, utilities and public services).

Analysis of Overall Results by Delay Cause Groups indices for the related delay factors in the group. The
The groups of delay causes were analyzed based on ranked groups of delay causes and their corresponding
the overall results. The group frequency, severity and frequency, severity and importance indices are shown
importance indices were calculated as the averages of in Table (6).

Table 6. Ranking according to group

Rank Group of Delay Frequency Severity Index Importance

Index Index
1 External causes 56.14 55.95 31.41
2 Client related causes 54.92 53.94 29.62
3 Consultant related 50.58 50.27 25.43
causes
4 Contractor related 47.34 47.50 22.49
causes

Overall Delay Cause Ranking Table (7) shows the ranking of the 65 causes of

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Causes of Delay… Ghanim A. Bekr

delay without classifying them in any category. It was (5) design changes by the owner, (6) design changes
found that the top 10 factors causing delay are: (1) by the consultant, (7) delay in progress payments by
security measures, (2) government change of the owner, (8) problems with local community, (9)
regulations and bureaucracy, (3) official and non- owner’s lack of experience in construction and (10)
official holidays, (4) low performance of the lowest economic conditions; local and global.
bidder contractors in the government tendering system,

Table 7. Ranking of all causes of delay according to their importance index

Cause no. Importance

Cause of Delay Group
on main list Index
Security measures 60 57.70 External
Government change of regulations and bureaucracy 62 48.37 External
Official and non-official holidays 65 42.69 External
Low performance of the lowest bidder contractors in the 15 38.63 Clients
government tendering system
Design changes by the owner 11 37.54 Clients
Design changes by the consultant 46 37.26 Consultants
Delay in progress payments by the owner 4 35.20 Clients
Problems with local community 58 34.30 External
Owners’ lack of experience in construction 2 34.29 Clients
Economic conditions; local or global 54 32.05 External
Poor qualification of supervision staff of the owner's engineer 13 31.92 Clients
Uncooperative owner with the contractor or the consultant 12 31.73 Clients
Inadequate qualification of the consultant to the project 43 31.07 Consultants
Lack of coordination with contractor 9 30.96 Clients
Inadequate early planning of the project 1 30.73 Clients
Breach or modification of contract by the owner 10 30.58 Clients
Deficiency in drawings 48 30.17 Consultants
Poor qualification, skills and experience of the contractor’s 19 29.91 Contractors
technical staff
Delay in the approval of contractor submittals to the owner 6 29.01 Clients
Insufficient available utilities on site 17 28.47 Clients
Contract duration to construction of project is too short 8 28.15 Clients
Poor controlling of subcontractors by the contractor (relationships, 29 27.44 Contractors
payments...)
Cash flow problems faced by the contractor 22 27.13 Contractors
Slow preparation of change order requests by the contractor 26 27.04 Contractors
Poor planning and scheduling of the project by the contractor 18 26.90 Contractors
Poor site management and supervision by the contractor 27 26.82 Contractors
Slow decision making process by the owner 5 26.66 Clients
Improper construction methods implemented by the contractor 41 26.59 Contractors
Mistakes in soil investigation 16 26.50 Clients

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Weather conditions effect on construction activities 55 25.45 External

Poor qualification of supervision staff of the consultant engineer 51 25.36 Consultants
Material quality problems 38 24.93 Contractors
Absence of consultant’s site staff 45 24.70 Consultants
Delay in site mobilization 42 24.59 Contractors
Delay in giving instructions 52 24.55 Consultants
Unforeseen site conditions and geological factors 56 24.25 External
Rise in the prices of materials 61 23.96 External
Changes in the scope of the project 7 23.31 Clients
Delay in approval of shop drawings 44 23.16 Consultants
Design errors made by designers due to unfamiliarity with local 53 23.09 Consultants
conditions and environment
Delays in resolving contractual issues 59 23.02 External
Shortage of construction material 39 22.88 Contractors
Equipment availability and failure 20 22.86 Contractors
The conflict between contractor, owner and consultant 63 22.17 External
Inadequate qualification of the consultant to the project 34 21.61 Consultants
Delay of material supply 37 21.54 Contractors
Weather conditions effect on construction activities 57 21.48 External
Poor communication and coordination by the consultant engineer 50 21.47 Consultants
External work due to public agencies (roads, utilities and public 64 21.47 External
services).
Difficulties in obtaining work permits from the authorities 21 21.34 Contractors
concerned
Documents not issued on time 49 21.33 Consultants
Delay in delivering the site to the contractor 3 21.32 Clients
Difficulties in obtaining work permits from the authorities 14 21.20 Clients
Poor manpower productivity 35 21.13 Contractors
Shortage of qualified engineers 32 21.13 Contractors
Delays due to sub-contractor work 24 20.86 Contractors
High number of contracts by the same contractor 33 20.17 Contractors
Poor communication by the contractor with the parties involved in 25 20.05 Contractors
the project
Design errors and discrepancies in contract documents 47 19.92 Consultants
Delay in the preparation of contractor document submissions 23 19.62 Contractors
Mistakes and rework due to errors during construction by the 28 19.58 Contractors
contractor
Breach of contract by the contractor 31 19.05 Contractors
Delay in test samples of materials 40 18.34 Contractors
Shortage in equipment availability 36 17.44 Contractors
Technical problems in project site by the contractor 30 16.41 Contractors

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Jordan Journal of Civil Engineering, Volume 9, No. 2, 2015

Total Abandonment
The above mentioned factors contribute to the total
Effect of Delay on Project Delivery abandonment of the project. In Iraq, many projects
Table (8) shows the frequency of occurrence of the were temporarily or permanently abandoned during the
effects of construction delays on project delivery political crisis between 2003 and 2014.
revealed by the field study.
Litigation
Table 8. Effect of delay on project delivery Again, the above mentioned factors escalate
disputes to be settled by litigation process. The parties
Frequency of
Cause of delay Rank involved in the project use litigation as a last resort to
occurrence
settle disputes.
Time overrun 1 94.62
Cost overrun 2 88.50
CONCLUSIONS
Disputes 3 73.37
Arbitration 4 64.33
The objectives of this research were to identify the
Total abandonment 5 58.21
main causes of delay that affect public works in Iraq. A
Litigation 6 55.67 literature review was conducted to identify the causes
of delay stipulated in the literature. Through the
Below are general discussions of the effect of delay literature review and the pilot study, 65 causes of delay
on project delivery. were identified and combined into four groups. These
are: client related, contractor related, consultant related
Time and Cost Overrun and external delay factors.
External factors and client related factors have Three major stakeholders, including 43 clients, 46
impact on the time and cost overrun. Out of ten most consultants and 45 contractors responded to the
important causes of delay discussed, nine causes questionnaire. The frequency, severity and importance
belong to external factors and client related ones. indices were used to rank the effect of each cause of
Factors such as: security measures, government change delay.
of regulations and bureaucracy, official and non- The participants in the survey agreed that the
official holidays, low performance of the lowest bidder projects they experienced suffer considerable amount
contractors in the government tendering system, design of delay and that projects in many cases get
changes by the owner; affect the completion of the temporarily or permanently abandoned.
project and cause time overrun. The survey revealed that the main causes of delay
related to the client are: low performance of the lowest
Disputes and Arbitration bidder contractors in the Iraqi government tendering
The above mentioned factors have impact on the system, design changes by the client and delay in
disputes that arise during the course of the project. progress payments by the client. Details of the results
Factors such as: delay in the payments for completed related to client are shown in Table (2). In addition, the
works, frequent design changes by the client or main causes of delay related to contractors are: poor
consultant, problems with the local community; give qualification, skills and experience of the contractor’s
rise to disputes which if not solved amicably can lead technical staff, poor controlling of subcontractors by
to arbitration. the contractor and cash flow problems faced by the
contractor. Table (3) shows all the details and ranking

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Jordan Journal of Civil Engineering, Volume 9, No. 2, 2015

of the 25 factors related to contractors. As far as delay survey are: security measures, government change of
factors are caused by the consultant, the study revealed regulations and bureaucracy, official and non-official
that out of 11 causes the most effective are: design holidays, low performance of lowest bidder contractors
changes, inadequate qualification of the consultant to in the government tendering system and changes by
the project and deficiency in drawings. Table (4) shows owners and consultants. It can be noticed that among
all the details related to this group. The fourth group the first ten causes of delay identified, there are 5
included in the study has to do with causes of delay causes related to external factors. These are: the first
related to external factors. Table (5) shows the most three causes just mentioned, in addition to problems
effective factors. These are: security measures, with local community and economic conditions; local
government regulations and bureaucracy and official and global.
and non-official holidays. The survey revealed that the delay of project will
In analyzing the delay factors from the point of cause time overrun, cost overrun, disputes, arbitration,
view of the construction participants, the highest mean total abandonment and litigation. The frequency of
average (31.41) in Table (6) shows that a large number occurrence is shown in Table (8).
of delays is occurring due to external factors. The The interviews revealed that in Iraq, many projects
second highest mean average (29.62) of delay factors is were temporarily or permanently abandoned during the
representing the owner as the second most influencing years 2003-2014. Promoters of various projects backed
construction party causing delays. Consultant and out because of poor security and poor relationship with
contractor were having the least mean averages of the local community. Even for some contracts, the
(25.43) and (22.49), respectively. client could not handover the project’s site to the
The ranking of overall causes of delay (Table 7) contractor because the site was occupied by local
showed that the most important causes identified by the people.

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