An Empirical Study Of The Critical Factors Affecting Quality Performance Of Road Construction Projects In Botswana

Quality project performance is a significant topic in today’s construction industry as it has become indispensable for construction companies to focus on increasing quality performance of construction projects to excel in highly competitive business environment.The motives for the underperformance of the quality project performance of Botswana’s road construction projects were studied to suggest possible remedial events.The Government of Botswana has continued to invest heavily towards quality road construction,however,the challenge of quality in completion of road construction projects have continuously hampered accelerated road improvement in the country.More than 60% of all road construction projects in Botswana are completed late with significant poor quality.The main purpose of this study is to investigate the critical factors affecting quality performance of road construction projects in Botswana.The main objectives of this study are to examine the influence of project planning on the quality performance of road construction projects in Botswana,evaluate the effect of stakeholders’ participation on the quality performance of road construction projects in Botswana,ascertain the impact of project funding on quality performance of road construction projects in Botswana,find out the effect of a contractor’s capability on the quality performance of road construction projects in Botswana and to measure the impact of project monitoring and evaluation on the quality performance of road construction projects in Botswana.To statistically analyze the objectives,the research espoused a descriptive research design.Data was collected from a survey of 6 branches of Unik engineering ltd,a renowned road construction company in Botswana.The target population was 165 officers,who worked in six the branches of Unik engineering ltd in Botswana.A stratified sample of the respondents was chosen from which data was collected using self-administrated questionnaire.The collected data was analyzed using descriptive statistics and inferential statistics.Interpretations of the study were made using regression analysis.The findings of the study were illustrated in the form of charts and tables.The study found out that quality performance of road construction projects in Botswana was affected by funding of project,capability of contractors,project planning and project monitoring and evaluation.It was therefore recommended that sponsors of road construction projects need to certify that contractors with strong capability were nominated.In addition,suitable and timely funding of road construction projects must be implemented in addition to consistent project monitoring and evaluation.Besides,it is imperious for proper project planning to be executed for successful performance of road construction projects.Involvement of stakeholders however was not found to have any significant effect on quality performance of road construction projects even though there was a positive relationship.