Identification of Factors Influencing Time and Cost Risks in Highway Construction Projects

Abstract

The construction of highway projects involves many types of risks throughout the various stages of itsproject life cycle. Those risks are especially significant due to their impact on the project performance and objectives, mainly in terms of costs and time. Several factors of projects risk had been determined and well explained in the paper. Major risks involved in highway construction in Malaysia are cost risk, safety risk and time risk. Due to lack of opinion from the contractors regarding the critical factors that influencing the project risks mentioned, this studyaims to evaluate the contractor’s perspective towards the important factors of risk particularly the cost and time risks in highway construction in Malaysia. The methodology used in this study is by using quantitative method.Questionnaire survey was developed by taking into consideration the factors influencing the cost risk and time risk that had been explained in the literature. The respondents were chosen by purposive sampling which enables the researcher to collect the data comprehensively. Results from this study confirmed that the construction risks and financial risks are most often occurred in highway projects. This research identifies potential factors influencing both cost and time risks that have a possibility to occur in highway projectsin Malaysia from the perspective of contractors. Among the key findings of the factors that highly influenced the cost risks in the highway projects in Malaysia include service relocation, removal and replacement of material,design changes, additional works, environmental issues, and price fluctuation. On the other hand, the main factors influencing time risks which mostly related to time overrun/delay are permit approval, weather condition, low workers’ productivity, slow preparation and drawings approval, design changes and error, and shortage of worker. This study contributes to the current body of knowledge by providing researchers and practitioners with a set of important factors related to time and cost risks that need to be consider in improving the performance of highway projects. It is hoped that this study would help the industry to promote project success of highway projects in Malaysia.

Investigating Stakeholder Perspectives on the Knowledge Management of Construction Projects: A Case Study of the Vietnamese Construction Industry

“…Lack of knowledge on project planning and on the impact that this deficiency exerts on the construction delays in Vietnam is an established challenge affecting the client party [31,[115][116][117]. This study identified a routinely emergent, prominent issue, namely site safety; the existing literature noted that these issues lead to conflicts among project stakeholders and negatively affect construction project performance [110,118,119]. Previous studies also observed that safety issues often emerge due to poor knowledge on safe construction methods and behavioral shortcomings, and that a lack of awareness among workers often leads to injuries and further impacts project performance [21,116,119].…”

Random forest and path diagram taxonomies of risks influencing higher education construction projects

“…Several risk factors are associated with building projects. These risks manifest in various phases of the projects life cycle commencing from the feasibility stage through completion, handing over and maintenance (Bakri et al, 2021). Further, in recent years of active construction of building projects, the scope of work, the timing and limited finance paved way for the emergence of risks influencing the budget and project's duration (Lapidus et al, 2022b).…”

“…For instance, construction risks and financial risks are the most frequently occurring while servicing relocation, design changes, additional works, and price fluctuation influence cost risks in the Malaysian construction industry. Similarly, the main factors influencing the schedule of the project are permit approval, the condition of the weather, reduced workers' productivity, untimely preparation and approval of drawings, changes to the design, and worker shortage (Bakri et al, 2021). Moreover, the construction industry is plagued by risks thereby subjecting it to an age-long poor track record in comparison with other economy sectors (Mishra & Mishra, 2016).…”

“…Moreover, some of the reasons advanced in lthe iterature include complexity of the construction projects, huge initial capital outlay and diverse resources includingthe labour (Hanafi et al, 2021). The common construction risks during the construction phase include land acquisition and compensation from the Malaysian context (Bakri et al, 2021). However, this varies from Szymański (2017) where progress delay, changes in the design, and discrepancies between the bill and actual quantities of work as built on site are construction risks.…”

“…Another important risk factor is financial risk factors which are derived from the inflation and interest rate (Zhang et al, 2021). The risk of interest rate could affect the construction project if the anticipated cost is lower when compared with the actual cost of financing (Bakri et al, 2021). Further, the operational stage of the construction projects is not uncommon with inflation risk which mostly affects the materials and equipment.…”