Application of Multi-Criteria Decision-Making Based on Combined Analytic Hierarchy Process and Linear Programming as an Alternative for Project Selection: The Case of Ethiopian Road Authority Road Projects

No Thumbnail Available

Date

2022-06

Journal Title

Journal ISSN

Volume Title

Publisher

Addis Ababa University

Abstract

Resources are limited for pursuing and funding new projects hence the challenge is to prioritize, select and allocate optimally. Ethiopian public projects encountered challenges in selecting best projects, finishing in time and cost. The project selection methods commonly used are quantitative in nature and they lack to account for intangible factors which can affect the outcome of project appraisals. An integrated Analytic Hierarchy Process and Linear Programming model that considered both quantitative and qualitative factors in choosing capital project is presented. The combined model is applied in Ethiopian Roads Authority road projects with Planning and Development Commission and Ministry of Finance as prime stakeholders in project selections. Research surveys were conducted in those organizations and secondary documents were used for the analysis. The results indicated project characteristics, with 0.5 weight, were ranked higher than other criteria related to the firm characteristic and external factors with weights of 0.36 and 0.14 respectively. The most important project selection sub-criteria found to be profit, measure of worth, project risk, financial standing, and resources with the overall weight of 0.15, 0.13, 0.12, 0.10 and 0.09 respectively. Others are economic factors, experience, technical ability, size & complexity, duration, organization culture, environmental, location factors, social responsibility, and political factors with weights of 0.07, 0.07, 0.07, 0.06, 0.04, 0.03, 0.02, 0.02, 0.02, and 0.01 respectively. Four projects out of six total projects were selected to have the most use of resources under the available resource constraints. The study provides a simple framework that can be used by organizations to make these challenging decisions. The integrated model is recommended for its ability to capture all possible factors, optimality advantage and applicability in different situations with refining the selection criteria.

Description

Keywords

Analytic Hierarchy Process,, Linear Programming, Projects, Project Appraisal, Resource Constraint, Optimality

Citation