Mapping the Causes of Time, Cost Overruns and Quality Shortfall in Egyptian Public Highway Projects

Transportation infrastructure development specifically public highway projects remains a major tool for achieving the aspirations of the newly introduced economic principles of the Government of Egypt. However, the importance of this industry and its impact on the national economy, concerns are raised frequently on the poor performances of these projects in terms of time, cost, and quality which directly subjected the construction of these projects to schedule delay, cost overrun, and quality shortfall problems. The main objective of the current study is to identify the causal causes of theses overruns in the public highway projects in Egypt. Using a detailed literature review and questionnaire surveys, the results of the study confirmed the prevalence of schedule delay, cost escalation, and quality shortfall in public highway projects in Egypt. Furthermore, the study establishes that contractor’s technical staff is insufficient and ineligible to accomplish the project, lack of communication between the construction parties, and unavailability of experienced staff in the owner’s and contractor’s teams during the project execution are the major factors responsible for causing schedule delay, cost overrun, and quality shortfall respectively. In addition, recommendations for avoiding and overcoming the negative implications of these factors on the performance of the public highway projects in Egypt have been emphasized.