Practice of Construction Planning in the Ethiopian Building Construction Industry: A Case Study on Selected Contractors in Addis Ababa
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Date
2020-11
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Addis Ababa University
Abstract
Planning is the process of thinking about activities required to achieve a desired goal.
Construction planning is the process of determining appropriate strategy for the
achievement of predefined project objectives. In construction projects, the objective of
construction planning is the completion of prescribed amount of work within fixed
time, at a previously estimated cost and to a specific standard of quality. In the
Ethiopian construction industry however, construction planning effort usually fails to
achieve its objectives. Even large construction companies who practice planning to
some level, frequently have difficulty in achieving their predetermined goals.
There is, therefore, a need to examine construction practices and develop strategies for
improving construction planning effectiveness. With this in mind this research tries to
identify the main factors that influence effective construction planning in Ethiopian
construction industry. Thus, 19 factors were identified from comprehensive literature
review and the industry overview. Using questionnaire survey their degree of impact
on planning effectiveness were assessed by planning practitioners working in large
construction companies. And their corresponding severity indices were used for
ranking whereby the agreement among the practitioners in ranking the factors was
conformed using coefficient of variance test.
The findings indicate that lack of adequate investment of time and money on planning
phase and inadequate qualification and experience of construction planners are found
to be significantly influential to planning effectiveness. Furthermore it revealed
inadequate information gathering and ineffective method for planned information
dissemination shadowed the construction planning practice in construction companies.
These necessitate the enhancement of construction companies’ commitment for
construction planning phase and the need to keep construction planners qualified,
updated with proper training and use of up-to-date planning techniques.
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Keywords
Construction planning, Ethiopian construction industry, planning techniques