It is not uncommon to see a project
failing to achieve its mission of creating a facility witin the specified cost
and time. Hardly few projects get completed in time and within original costs.
The factors contributing to these overruns
are outlined below:
Inadequate project formulation
Poor field investigation, inadequate
project information, bad cost estimates, lack of experience, inadequate project
analyses, poor investment decisions.
Poor planning for implementation
Inadequate time plan, inadequate resource
plan, inadequate equipment supply plan, inter-linking not anticipated, poor
organization, poor cost planning.
Lack of proper contract planning and
management
Improper pre-contract actions, poor post
award contract management.
Lack of project management during
execution
Inefficient and ineffective working,
delays, changes in scope of work and location, law. There can be endless
reasons for non-fulfillment of project objectives. Failures can be due to
unforeseen natural calamities like earthquakes, floods and natural disasters.
Failures can also result from deliberate attempts made by manipulators during
the feasibility stage by incorporating inaccurate time and cost estimates with
a view to secure business or start a project. These in-built intentional
inaccuracies can lead to unrealistic objectives and thus create problems during
the implementation stage. But, the main cause of such failures can be
attributed to the cost estimation failure and management failure.
