Critical Success Factors and Implementation of Road Projects in Wajir County, Kenya

Abstract

Despite the fact that the street system has improved since the district government came into spot, a large portion of the streets are still rendered closed amid stormy season therefore abridging all developments by street inside the region. Wajir County is one of the counties facing with poor road conditions whereby during the rainy season the county is cut-off from the rest of the country. Even though the First County Integrated Development Plan 2013- 2017 showed that 40 projects aimed at improving the road conditions had been proposed, the County Annual Development Plan 2016/17 showed that only 4 of these were ongoing and the rest were behind schedule. This raised issues pertaining to the commitment of the County Government which continued to propose new road projects when a large number of the previously stipulated projects were yet to be implemented. The study sought to examine the influence of contractors’ competencies/capacity, resource mobilization, target beneficiary participation, political goodwill and governance and M&E on the implementation of road projects in Wajir County. The study was founded on the theory of project management, participatory development theory and the program theory. The study targeted 5 county officials under the transport and infrastructure department, 280 project management committee members drawn from the various road projects in the county, 27 registered road contractors involved in the various road projects in the county as well as 300 local community leaders representing the local residents who are the target beneficiaries of road projects drawn from various project and development committees in the county. The study used primary data collected using a structured questionnaire. The data collected was analysed using quantitative method. The study found that contractors’ competencies/capacity, resource mobilization, target beneficiary participation, political goodwill and governance and monitoring and evaluation had a significant positive impact on the extent to which road projects were implemented in Wajir County. It was reported that resource mobilization had the largest influence on the the degree to which the road projects in the county were implemented followed by contractors’ competencies/capacity and then M&E. The study concluded that if the county was to witness improved implementation of road projects in the county, emphasis had to be placed on enhancing the level of contractors’ competencies/capacity, resource mobilization, target beneficiary participation, political goodwill and governance and M&E throughout the project lifecycles. The study recommends the need for established system where the details and track records of road contactors are kept and integrated so that tracking of their delivery is made easy. The study further recommends that the county government should devise innovative ways of raising extra local funds to supplement the total funds from the central government and there should be diversification of sources of funding for road projects.