Critical Success Factors in the Implementation of Road Projects in Wajir County, Kenya.
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Date
2019
Authors
Osman, M. A.
G, Kimutai
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
International Academic Journals
Abstract
Roads are the most common mode of
transport in the county despite their poor
state. Even though the road network has
improved since the county government came
into place, most of the roads are still
rendered impassable during rainy season
thus curtailing all movements by road within
the county. 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 purpose of this study
therefore, was to assess the critical success
factors in the implementation of road
projects in Wajir County, Kenya. The study
sought to examine the influence of
contractors’ competencies/capacity, resource
mobilization, target beneficiary
participation, political goodwill and
governance and monitoring and evaluation
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 adopted a descriptive research
design. 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. Statistical Package for Social
Sciences was used to analyse the data. Both
descriptive and inferential statistics were
extracted. A multiple regression model was
used to show the relationship between the
independent variables and the dependent
variables. The study found that contractors’
competencies/capacity, resource
mobilization, target beneficiary
participation, political goodwill and
governance and monitoring and evaluation
positively and significantly influence the
implementation of road projects in Wajir
County. The study found that resource
mobilization had the largest influence on the
implementation of the road projects in the
county followed by contractors’
competencies/capacity and then monitoring
and evaluation. 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 monitoring and evaluation
throughout the project lifecycles. Several
recommendations were made among them
the establishment of structures and
guidelines which are adhered to during the
selection of road contractors and that
measures are put in place to tame corruption
and political influences in awarding of
contracts. The study also 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.
Description
A research article published in International Academic Journal of Information Sciences and Project Management
Keywords
Critical success factors, Implementation, Road projects, Wajir County, Kenya
Citation
Osman, M. A. & Kimutai, G. (2019). Critical success factors in the implementation of road projects in Wajir County, Kenya. International Academic Journal of Information Sciences and Project Management, 3(3), 73-104