Influence of Project Management Practice on Performance of Public Housing Projects in Rwanda: A Case Study of the Rwanda Housing Authority

Abstract

The practice of construction project management remains ineffective in the implementation of public projects in Rwanda according to the Office of Auditor General’s reports; one rarely finds any public project completed within the specified time, cost or quality. Review of related literature shows that the challenge of poor delivery of construction projects is a widespread phenomenon in construction industry worldwide. All the same, the exact reasons underlying the phenomenon differ considerably from one county to another. The aim of this study was to investigate the influence of project management practice on the performance of public housing projects in Rwanda, particularly at the Rwanda Housing Authority (RHA) - a government institution that has been assigned the responsibility to ensure proper management of all public housing projects in the country. The specific objectives of the study were to: (i) describe the extent to which contract negotiation and award affect project performance; (ii) explain the influence of project monitoring and acceptance on project performance; (iii) define the impact of variations handling on project performance; (iv) describe the influence of project closure/termination on project performance; (v) highlight expert views for enhancement of project management performance in Rwanda Housing Authority. In the study, a cross-sectional survey research (in a case study) design was adopted. While the case was the RHA, the units of observation were the employees of RHA. Accordingly, the target population was the fifty-seven (57) employees of RHA who are directly deployed in the department in charge of construction project management as per their job profiles. Data were collected using a questionnaire by which both quantitative and qualitative data were captured. The data analysis was done using the Microsoft Excel package to compute descriptive statistics (means & standards deviations), frequencies and percentages. The study findings revealed that the respondents have sufficient knowledge on project management techniques and their potential for enhancing performance of housing projects in Rwanda. However, there appears to be a weakness in the actual application of the project management tools, which implies: (i) deficiencies in the skills and experience levels of the staff, and (ii) ineffectiveness in the organization structure in which the project management function is practiced in the public institution. From the findings of this study, the researcher recommends that the RHA strives to improve her contract management practice through: (i) further training or further capacity building for the staff-in-charge; (ii) refinement in the contract management set up in order to, for example, boost the timeliness of risk identification and response; and, (iii) embracing of ICT applications in the contract management function.