Capacity of Local Contractors and Performance of Road Projects in Nairobi City County, Kenya.

Abstract

Roads create a transportation network that gives shape to the living environment of people through various connectivity elements in our society. The constructions of the roads have been met with challenges of poor quality, delays and cost escalations; all of which are the parameters for performance. The study investigated the effects local contractors’ capacity on the performance of road projects in Nairobi City County, Kenya. The specific objectives of this study were to investigate the effects of the following capacities on the performance of road construction projects financial capacity, technical capacity, organizational capacity and regulatory compliance capacity. The stakeholders who are likely to benefit from the findings of this study are the government, along with private and public contractors specializing in road projects. The study was guided by the theory of critical chain project management and stakeholders’ theory along with the theory of constraints. The target population to the study were 83 consultants and engineers supervising the construction of road projects under Kenya Urban Roads Authority in Nairobi City County out of which 72 respondents successfully participated fully in the study. A census of the respondents was done because of their relative small size. Collection of data was done using questionnaires. .Descriptive statistics was employed in data analysis to include the mean and the standard deviation. In addition, the regression analysis model was also used in data analysis. The regression model revealed financial, technical, organizational, and regulatory compliance capacities to affect performance of road construction projects. It is recommended that the contractors should consider expanding their investments so as to attract lenders. Apart from that, the employees under various contracting firms should be provided with opportunities for further training as a way of boosting their technical skills. In addition, the management of the various contracting firms should benchmark with the best contractors in the field as this may lead to an improvement in their organizational capacity. Last but not least, there should be increased awareness of the rules and regulations by relevant authorities among the employees as this will improve the regulatory compliance capacity.