INVESTIGATING THE FACTORS IMPACTING THE PERFORMANCE OF
SMALL AND MEDIUM-SCALE IRRIGATION CONSTRUCTION
PROJECTS IN EASTERN AMHARA
MSc THESIS
OCTOBER, 2023
ETHIOPIA
INVESTIGATING THE FACTORS IMPACTING THE PERFORMANCE OF
SMALL AND MEDIUM-SCALE IRRIGATION CONSTRUCTION
PROJECTS IN EASTERN AMHARA
MEAZA TESHOME ESHETU
A THESIS SUBMITTED TO THE DEPARTMENT OF CIVIL
ENGINEERING INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY SCHOOL OF
GRADUATE STUDIES ARBAMINCH UNIVERSITY IN PARTIAL
FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENT FOR THE DEGREE OF
MASTER OF SCIENCE IN CONSTRUCTION MANAGEMENT AND
TECHNOLOGY
OCTOBER, 2023
ARBA MINCH, ETHIOPIA
DECLARATION
I hereby declare that this MSc. thesis entitled “Investigating The Factors Affecting The
Performance of Small and Medium-Scale Irrigation Construction Projects In Eastern Amhara
Region-Ethiopia ’’ is my original work, and has not been presented by any other person for an
award of a degree in this or any other university, and all sources of material used for thesis
have been properly acknowledged.
Candidate:
Meaza Teshome
Signature: __________
Date: __________
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SCHOOL OF GRADUATE STUDIES
ARBA MINCH UNIVERSITY
ADVISORS’ THESIS SUBMISSION APPROVAL SHEET
This is to certify that the thesis entitled “Investigating the factors impacting the performance
of small and medium-scale irrigation construction projects in Eastern Amhara ” submitted
in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master’s with specialization in
Construction Technology and Management, the Graduate Program of the Faculty of Civil
Engineering, and has been carried out by MEAZA TESHOME Id. No. PSAMIT/2378/10,
under my supervision. Therefore, I recommend that the student has fulfilled the requirements
and hence hereby can submit the thesis to the department for defense.
DR. FISEHA SAHILE (PhD)
Principal Advisor Signature Date
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SCHOOL OF GRADUATE STUDIES
ARBA MINCH UNIVERSITY
EXAMINERS’ THESIS APPROVAL SHEET
Name of the Candidate: Meaza Teshome
Graduate Program: Construction Technology & Management
Thesis Title: Investigating The factors affecting the performance of small and medium-scale
irrigation construction projects in eastern Amhara region-Ethiopia.
Date of open oral presentation:
This is to certify that the candidate has orally presented the thesis entitled above, and the present
version of the thesis has incorporated all comments and suggestions given during the thesis
review. Therefore, we recommend that this final version be considered as a reviewed thesis in
partial fulfillment for the degree of Master of Science in the respective graduate program.
Approved by:
Reviewer 1. ______________________ Sign: _____________ Date: _________________
2.______________________ Sign: ______________ Date: _________________
Checked by:
__________________ _____________ ______________
Faculty Dean Approval Sign Date
____________________ _____________ _______________
SGS Director Sign Date
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ARBA MINCH UNIVERSITY
INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
SCHOOL OF GRADUATE STUDIES
PLAGIARISM TEST CERTIFICATE
This is to certify that a master thesis entitled “Investigating the factors affecting the
performance of small and medium-scale irrigation construction projects in eastern
Amhara region-Ethiopia’’ has been tested for plagiarism and is found below the 20% limit.
Name Sign Date
____________________ ______________
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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
First and foremost, the Almighty GOD all the glory and honor due to him for his unending care
and assistance in all aspects of life. Without their help, leading such a lovely life would not
have been possible. In this regard, Advisor Dr. Fiseha Sahile thanked those who helped and
impacted education; this research work was successful with his supervision, support, and
correction. His dedication and patience in all of his advisory activities were exemplary. Next,
thanks go to friends' unreserved and precious support for their motivational aspirations. At the
same time, from the beginning of this work. Faced challenges and shared numerous critical
support and guidance
Moreover, for success, thank family members who are eager to see. , who have encouraged and
created a conducive environment in the last two years. They have been the most significant
source of support.
They have finally Thanked Amhara Design and Supervision Works Enterprise (ADSWE) and
Amhara Water Works Construction Enterprise (AWWCE) for their kindness in providing every
detail necessary for the study's data, as well as to their employees and the part icipants who
generously contributed by participating and providing information.
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LIST OF ACRONYMS/ABBREVIATIONS
ADSWE Amhara Design and Supervision Works Enterprise
ANOVA Analysis of Variance
AWWCE Amhara Water Works Construction Enterprise
EC Ethiopian Calendar
ECI Early Contract Involvement
ETB Ethiopian Birr
IT Information Technology
KPT Key Performance Technology
MS Microsoft
PAR Performance Appraisal and Reporting
PM Project Management
PPMS Project Performance Measurement System
PPMS Project Performance Monitoring System
RII Relative Importance Index
SI Supplier Involvement
SPSS Statistical Package for Social Science
UK United Kingdom
USD United States Dollar
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LIST OF TABLES
Table 2.1: Factors Causing Construction Cost Overrun .......... Error! Bookmark not defined.
Table 2.2: Grouping of Stakeholders: External and Internal ... Error! Bookmark not defined.
Table 2.3: Roles of Project Stakeholders ................................. Error! Bookmark not defined.
Table 3.1: Total questionnaire distribution of the study .......... Error! Bookmark not defined.
Table 3.2: A rating scale for a significance level of factors on project performance .......Error!
Bookmark not defined.
Table 3.3: Result of reliability analysis for the questionnaire . Error! Bookmark not defined.
Table 4.1: Response Rate of Respondents............................... Error! Bookmark not defined.
Table 4.2:Education level of Respondent ................................ Error! Bookmark not defined.
Table 4.3: Respondents' Description/Job Title ........................ Error! Bookmark not defined.
Table 4.4: Respondents' Years of Experience.......................... Error! Bookmark not defined.
Table 4.5: Contract time and actual completed time of irrigation construction projects ..Error!
Bookmark not defined.
Table 4.6: Contract and actual completed amount of irrigation construction projects .....Error!
Bookmark not defined.
Table 4.7: Participants’ RII and rank of cost factors ............... Error! Bookmark not defined.
Table 4.8: Participants’ RII and rank of time factors............... Error! Bookmark not defined.
Table 4.9: Participants' RII and Rank of Quality Factors ........ Error! Bookmark not defined.
Table 4.10: Participants’ RII and rank of productivity factors Error! Bookmark not defined.
Table 4.11: Participants' RII and Rank of Client Satisfaction Factors ... Error! Bookmark not
defined.
Table 4.12: The Top Ten Critical Factors that Affect Project Performance Error! Bookmark
not defined.
Table 4.13: Critical factors RII and rank of project owners’ perception Error! Bookmark not
defined.
Table 4.14: Critical factors RII and rank of contractors’ perception ...... Error! Bookmark not
defined.
Table 4.15: Critical factors RII and rank of consultants’ perception...... Error! Bookmark not
defined.
Table 4.16: Stakeholders weighted average of critical factors RII and rank Error! Bookmark
not defined.
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Table 4.17: Participants’ RII and ranks of Key performance indicators Error! Bookmark not
defined.
Table 4.18: The Model Summary for Respondents ................. Error! Bookmark not defined.
Table 4.19: The ANOVA results of respondents..................... Error! Bookmark not defined.
Table 4.20: The Regression result of factors affecting irrigation construction performance
.................................................................................................. Error! Bookmark not defined.
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LIST OF FIGURES
Figure 2.1: Conceptual Frame of the Study ............................. Error! Bookmark not defined.
Figure 3.1: Description of the Study Area ............................... Error! Bookmark not defined.
Figure 4.1: Combined RII and rank of cost factors ................. Error! Bookmark not defined.
Figure 4.2: Combined RII and rank of time factors................. Error! Bookmark not defined.
Figure 4.3: Combined RII and rank of quality factors............. Error! Bookmark not defined.
Figure 4.4: Combined RII and rank of productivity factors .... Error! Bookmark not defined.
Figure 4.5: Combined RII and rank of client satisfaction factors........... Error! Bookmark not
defined.
Figure 4.6: Combined RII and rank of key performance indicators ....... Error! Bookmark not
defined.
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ABSTRACT
Recently due to their economic value, there has been a rapid increment of water work projects
in Ethiopia. However, there a problems regarding their performance, like cost overrun, time
overrun, low productivity & low quality. The same is true for water work projects that are
constructed by Amhara Water Works Construction Enterprise. This research work aims to
identify and evaluate the main factors affecting the performance of small & medium-scale
irrigation construction projects in eastern Amhara region-Ethiopia. For this research work
five irrigation construction projects are targeted as the population of the study. To achieve the
objectives of this research study, both qualitative & quantitative data were collected by desk
study, questionary survey, and inteviews. 75 Questionnaires were distributed to the
respondents and out of these distributed questionnaires, 70 (93.33) questionnaires were
returned. The data collected were analyzed using the Relative Importance Index (RII). The
results show that the top ten critical factors that affecting performance agreed upon by all
parties were an escalation of material prices, unavailability of resources, number of disputes
between owner and project parties, quality of equipment or machinery and raw materials,
unavailability of competent staff, financial constraints, material and equipment cost, local
climate conditions cost of variation orders and leadership skills for project manager. The study
found that independent variables showed a significant relation with the dependent variable and
the independent variables explain 68.2% of the variance of the dependent variable
performance of irrigation construction projects under Amhara National Regional State
Irrigation and Lowland Areas Development Bureau irrigation construction projects in East
Amhara. The study result indicates except for Client Satisfaction-related factors, other factors
(Cost Related Factors, Time-Related Factors, Quality Factors, and Productivity Related
Factors) influenced the construction performance of small and medium-scale irrigation
construction projects positively.
Keywords: Contractors, Owners, Consultant, Performance, Multiple Regression Analysis,
AWWCE, Construction projects
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CHAPTER ONE
1. INTRODUCTION
1.1. Background of the Study
A project is a complex, non-routine, one-time effort limited by time, budget, and resource and
performance specifications designed to meet customer needs (Ofori, 2013). The construction
industry has complexity in its nature because it involves a large number of parties such as
clients, contractors, consultants, and others these parties are not properly managed according to
the contract agreement, and monitoring and evaluation systems its poor (Nyangwara, 2015). A
construction project is expected to be successful through a combination of many events and
interactions, planned or unplanned, over the life of a facility, with changing participants and
processes in a constantly changing environment. From various projects, the infrastructural
support for the country’s economy is provided by the construction industry by way of buildings
(housing, office space, retail space, factories, etc.) roads, railways, irrigation schemes, and water
supply schemes. Ethiopia’s water work construction sectors are among the most rapidly
growing sectors of the country. A large number of irrigation projects have been implemented
to improve productivity and allow stable production throughout the whole year, ensuring food
security (Shumye, 2018).
Most of the project performance in Ethiopia is very poor for different reasons and Irrigation
projects are among those which suffer a lot. The Success of construction projects significantly
depends on how the project has been managed and how driving elements can be controlled.
Irrigation and construction project success factors and performance indicators frequently
change from one project to the next. The main performance elements of irrigation projects are
classified depending on participants, the scope of services, the size of the project, the nature of
the contract, the implications of technology, and a variety of other factors.
The construction of irrigation systems involves converting the engineering solutions. It provides
in the design document a physical reality that enables safe storage or diversion, conveyance,
distribution, and application of water. In this regard, it is essential to select qualified consultants
and contractors, as well as to use appropriate construction materials and follow standard
construction procedures, etc. The primary problems during this implementation phase are
among others inadequate capacity of the client, consultants, and contractors that always lead to
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APPENDIX
APPENDICES A: Questionnaires
ARBAMINCI UNIVERSITY
SCHOOL OF GRADUATE STUDIES
DEPARTMENT OF CIVIL ENGINEERING
MASTER OF CONSTRUCTION TECHNOLOGY & MANAGEMENT
Section 1: Introduction
Dear respondent, Sir/Madam,
I am a graduate student in the Department of Civil Engineering, at ARBAMINCH
UNIVERSITY. Currently, I am researching ‘INVESTIGATING THE FACTORS
IMPACTING THE PERFORMANCE OF SMALL AND MEDIUM-SCALE IRRIGATION
CONSTRUCTION PROJECTS IN EASTERN AMHARA'. The study is required for the partial
fulfillment of the requirements of the Master of Construction Technology & Management. The
result of the study will assist the case organization (Amhara National Regional State Irrigation
and Lowland Areas Development Bureau) by investigating the current factors that affect the
performance of small & medium irrigation construction and adjusting its focus on the key
performance indicators. Hence, for this study, your response will be kept confidential and your
participation is voluntary. The information you provide and your genuine response will
determine the soundness and validity of the finding. Therefore, I kindly request you to fill out
the questionnaire carefully as soon as possible.
Instructions:
✓ No need to write your name.
✓ For the Likert scale type statements and multiple-choice questions indicate you're a tick
mark (√) in the answers with the appropriate block.
✓ With great excuse, possibly return to a timely
✓ For any problem or suggestion contact the researcher through the following addresses:
Name: Meaza Teshome E-mail: @gmail.com Phone: +251
I thank you in advance for your cooperation!!
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Section 2: General Information
Please give your response to all the questions either by putting a tick mark (√) at the choice that
best describes the question asked or by writing in the space provided:
1. Type of Organization Owner Contractor Consultant
2 Job title of the respondent Project Manager Site Engineer/ office
engineer Others (specify)__________________________________________
3. Years of experience of the respondent
Less than one 1 to -5 6 to 10 10 years and above
4. Marital Status; Company Size (Number of laborers or employees)
Less than 50 From 50 to less than 100 From 100 to 250 More
than 250
Section 3: Factors Affecting the Performance of Irrigation Construction Projects
Below are a number of factors affecting the performance of construction projects. From your
experience, please express your opinion on the importance of the following as factors that affect
the performance of Irrigation construction projects in Amhara water irrigation & energy projects
in Easter Amhara projects based on the associated numbers given here. (Please tick the
appropriate box).
Where, 1=Very Low Important, 2= Low Important, 3= Medium Important, 4=High
Important, 5=Very High Important
No. Groups/Factors Rate of Occurrences
1. Cost factors 5 4 3 2 1
1.1 Market share of the organization
1.2 Cash flow of project
1.3 The profit rate of the project
1.4 Material and equipment cost
1.5 Project labor cost
1.6 Project overtime cost
1.7 Cost of rework
1.8 Cost of variation orders
1.9 Waste rate of materials
1.10 Escalation of material prices
1.11 Differentiation of currency prices
1.12 Incomplete drawing
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2 Time factors 5 4 3 2 1
2.1 Too many change orders from the owner
2.2 Poor project management assistance
2.3 Unforeseen ground conditions
2.4 Low speed of decision-making
2.5 Project complexity
2.6 Effective communication
2.7 Financial constraints
2.8 The average delay in claim approval
2.9 The average delay in payments from owners to contractors
2.10 Site preparation time
2.11 Unavailability of resources
2.12 The time needed to rectify defects
2.13 The time needed to implement variation orders
3 Quality factors
3.1 Conformance to specification
3.2 Unavailability of competent staff
3.3 Quality of equipment or machinery and raw materials
3.4 The quality assessment system in the organization
3.5 Quality training or meeting
3.6 Incomplete drawing
3.7 Incomplete technical specification
4 Productivity factors
4.1 Project size and complexity
4.2 Management-labor relationship
4.3 Absenteeism rate throughout the project (late start and early exists)
4.4 Number of new projects per year
4.5 Sequencing of work according to the schedule
4.6 Local cultural characteristics
4.7 Non-working holidays
4.8 Local climate conditions
4.9 Wedges amount
4.10 Employees motivation
4.11 Employees attitudes
5 Client Satisfaction factors
5.1 The Problem of Leadership Skills for Project Managers
5.2 Number of disputes between owner and project parties
5.3 Less Speed and unreliability of service to the owner
5.4 Number of rework incidents
5.5 Information coordination failure between owner and project parties
5.6 Conflict incidences
5.7 Poor workmanship and incompetent workers
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Section 4: Key Performance Indicators’ Irrigation Construction Projects
Based on the occurrence of performance-related problems you filled out under part two, below
are the numbers of key performance indicators of irrigation construction projects. From your
experience, please fill in the effect of these occurrences on project performance t o determine
the key performance indicators of irrigation construction projects in the selected irrigation
projects on the following rating numbers. (Please tick the appropriate box).
Where, 1=Very Low, 2=Low, 3=Medium, 4=High, 5=Very High
S.N. Key Performance Indicators 5 4 3 2 1
1.1 Cost
1.2 Time
1.3 Quality
1.4 Productivity
1.5 Client satisfaction
Section 5: Questionnaire related to Overall performance of irrigation Construction
Projects executed in Amhara water irrigation & energy projects in Easter Amhara
Below is the Overall performance of Irrigation construction projects. From your experience,
please express your opinion on the rate of occurrences in the overall performance of Irrigation
construction projects based on the representative numbers listed below. (Please tick the
appropriate box).
Where, 1= Poor Performance, 2= Low Performance, 3= Moderately Performances, 4=
Good Performance, and 5= Very Good Performance.
Rate of Occurrences
Description
5 4 3 2 1
Perceived Overall executed irrigation construction project performance
based on Time overrun, cost overrun, quality, productivity, and Client
satisfaction issues) considering the above factors
If you have any additional comments, please write
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
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