Determinants influencing monitoring and evaluation processes of road construction projects in Kenya national highways authority (KENHA), central region, Kenya

Abstract

In its mandate to steer the economic growth, Infrastructural development has been one core development area that has been put on focus by the Kenyan Government. There has been a lot of investment on Construction and Maintenance of National trunk roads mainly being the main transport medium inland owing most especially to the unreliability of the Railway Transport after its collapse within the last two decades. In lieu of this the government has streamlined the ministry of roads through gazzettement of Key Authorities to discharge its duties. The Kenya National Authority having been given mandate to manage the National Trunk roads has a duty to Monitor and Evaluate the Projects it is responsible of managing. There has been inefficiency in carrying out of proper Monitoring and Evaluation of the road construction and maintenance projects. Owing to this, information that would be useful and consumed in guiding procuring for future works during the procurement evaluation process on contractor's bidding for work is insufficient and works may end up going to an inefficient contractor who could have won a tender by virtue of bidding lowest. The purpose of this study was to identify the factors that affect Monitoring and Evaluation of Roads project in KeNHA. The study targeted the population of roads that have ongoing construction works in this region. A sample of roads that have ongoing construction works were sampled using simple random sampling and was collected using questionnaires which were administered to respondents involved in these projects. The data analysis involved qualitative and quantitative techniques. The study findings indicate that there is a great influence of availability of resources on monitoring and evaluation of Road Infrastructural Construction. The study revealed that adequate resources ensure timely completion of construction projects together with competent project staff. Availability of monitoring and evaluation personnel influences road infrastructural construction projects. Personnel are the ones that contribute to the effectiveness since they are needed to perform the duties. Other monitoring resources have an influence on monitoring and evaluation of road construction projects. It was found that other resources include time, mode of transport and data collection tools. Contractors have big influences upon projects and their successes. If the contractor provides poor workmanship it affects construction projects.