Influence of Local Contractors’ Capacity on Performance of Road Construction Projects: a Case of Narok County, Kenya

Abstract

Road projects in Narok County just like the rest of the country continue to perform poorly especially in terms of durability. The influence of Contractors is very critical to any Road construction and maintenance project since the success of implementation largely depends on the contractor handling the project. The purpose of the study was to explore influence of local contractors’ capacity on performance of construction projects in Narok County, Kenya. The indicators of contractors’ capacities included skilled manpower of local contractors, working capital of local contractors, organization structure of local contractors and client support by local contractors. Correlational research design and descriptive analysis was used as the research design in this study. The target population was 190 comprising of employees from KENHA, KURA, KERRA, NCA and local contractors in Narok County. The choice of this target population was based on their understanding of road construction projects in Narok County. Using Fisher formula 1998 a sample size of96 respondents was selected using a proportionate stratified sampling technique where by 13 are from KENHA,14 from KURA, 12 from KERRA, 2from NCA and 55officials from road contractor in Narok County. Data collection in this study relied on structured questionnaire which was measured using Likert scale statement and an interview guide. Data collected was cleaned and coded in preparation of data analysis. Descriptive statistics which include mean, percentages, frequencies and standard deviation was employed. The study used inferential statistics which included correlation and regression analysis to test the relationship between the independent and dependent variables and establish the predicting influence on the road performance. The study found that the level of professional training of the project team influences performance of road construction projects in Narok County, local contractors were knowledgeable about road construction projects, the level of skills among local contractors in their respective area is usually very high, local contractors have worked in the construction sector before, have employees with requisite experience in road construction, and had relevant experience in civil engineering and related courses. The research found that local contractors had access to adequate credit to finance projects, the level of access to credit by local contractors from financial institutions was high, financial institutions had flexible lending terms, local contractors’ operational resources were adequate to manage the projects and had enough cash in the bank to facilitate road construction projects. Moreover, the study found that there was no clear communication between subproject teams, clients and suppliers and other stakeholders, local contractors had no clear definition of work plans and task management, and decision-making structure is not clearly defined among the local contractors in the road sector. The study also found that local contractors were not paid promptly and as agreed by their clients, called meetings were not fully attended by the clients, approval of work plans by clients was not done in a structured manner and time, and local contractors were not adequately allocated enough funds for road construction. The research concluded that organizational structure (r=0.793, p=0.007<0.05) had the greatest significant influence on performance1of road construction projects in Narok County, followed by working capital (r=0.662, p=0.001<0.05), then client support (r=0.694, p=0.012<0.05), while skilled manpower (r=0.601, p=0.003<0.05) had the least significant influence on performance1of road construction projects in Narok County. Road construction projects in Narok County ought to adopt unwavering checks on local contractors’ financial stability and technical resources at their disposal before awarding them the road construction contract. There is need for clients to undertake a critical financial evaluation of prospective local contractors before awarding them the road construction project. This helps in curbing operational challenges which delays the project completion and resulting in budget overrun.