Causes of project delay in the construction industry in Afghanistan

It is widely accepted that a project is successful when it is finished on time but unfortunately, due to many reasons, in Afghanistan a large number of construction projects fail to meet their original contact time. Construction delays are the most serious problems which send bad signals to foreign investors thereby slowing down the national development. A comprehensive survey; therefore, on time performance of various construction projects was carried out to identify the critical factors that cause construction delays in Afghanistan. From in-depth literature studies, eighty three causes of delay were identified. Questionnaires were then developed and sent to 60 carefully selected construction industry stakeholders including: clients, contractors, and consultants in Afghanistan. The findings show that the main critical factors that cause construction delays in Afghanistan are: security, corruption, poor qualification of the contractor’s technical staff, payment delays by clients, and poor site management and supervision by contractor. This paper also explores and provides some recommendations to reduce the impact of delays on construction projects in Afghanistan.