Evaluation of the Performance of Donor Funded Road Construction Projects in Kenya

Abstract

Investments made in building world class infrastructure serve as a major catalyst for attracting local and foreign investors. In developing nations, road projects are some of the largest donor funded projects. In Kenya, given the road network size, traffic volume, traffic composition and projected future growth rates, the need to invest in road infrastructure development is very high and exceeds the country’s budgetary financing capacity. Outside budgetary financing has therefore become necessary in order to enable the country meet the challenge of the growing road traffic. The private sector participation plays a major role in bridging the financial gap, so does the foreign aid. Construction industry is the means through which a society realizes its goals of urban and rural development. Despite immense study focusing on factors affecting the performance of road construction projects in Kenya, majority have focused on projects undertaken by local contractors. The general objective of the study was to evaluate the performance of donor funded road construction projects in Kenya. It aimed at bridging the knowledge gap by evaluating the factors affecting the performance of road construction projects with an emphasis on donor funded road construction projects. The specific objectives being to assess the efficiency, effectiveness, relevance, sustainability, impact and their effect on the performance of donor funded road construction projects in Kenya. A descriptive survey design was used while a questionnaire was used to gather primary data. Secondary data was also used to validate the communicative and realistic validity of primary data. The study targeted all road construction companies and regulatory bodies involved in ongoing and most recently completed donor funded road construction projects in Kenya. Out of the 331 questionnaires administered to the sample group, 298 were duly returned which represented 90% response rate. The data collected from the field was analyzed using SPSS and Microsoft excel. Descriptive statistics gave a summary of the data and a description of the sample characteristics. Correlations analysis showed the relationships among the variables hence finding statistical support of the hypotheses of the study. The findings revealed that all the variables of the study that is efficiency, effectiveness, relevance, sustainability, impact had statistically significant influence on the performance of donor funded road construction projects. Findings further showed that efficiency in donor funded road projects was not satisfactory; effectiveness had positive influence which could be attributed to the strict guidelines imposed by donors. In addition, they showed that donor funded projects were relevant in the development objectives and goals of Kenya. It was noted that sustainability was not well defined meaning that it did not meet the expectations of the respondents. Findings on the economic impact revealed that donor funded projects preserved a reasonable balance between peoples’ economic aspirations and their sustainable development priorities. Based on the findings of the study, it can be concluded that effectiveness, efficiency, sustainability, relevance and impact all affect the performance of road construction projects positively. The adoption of better mechanisms in the management of these projects could however enhance performance levels. Monitoring of donor funded road construction projects is vital in order to evaluate performance and also aid in determining their successful completion. This study did not include all donor projects and a further study is recommended to include social empowerment projects among others.