Causes and Impact of Construction Delays in India

Research Proposal

Contents
Problem Statement.....................................................................................................................3
Research aim, objectives and research questions.......................................................................4
Justification and Possible Output of the Research Project.........................................................4
Conceptual Framework..............................................................................................................6
Research Methodology...............................................................................................................9
Research Strategy.....................................................................................................................10
Organisation of the Study, Project Budget and Schedule........................................................11
References................................................................................................................................13

Problem Statement
Construction delays are one of the major concerns in the construction world. Delays can be
referred to as an events or acts that increase the overall time needed to perform the tasks of
the contract in a specified period of time. (Arya & Kansal, 2016). Delays are characterized by
additional days of work or starting the activities. The delays in construction are also be
referred to as the time taken to complete construction project beyond estimated completion
date specified in contract or date agreed by parties involved in the contract. Project delays are
the project slipping over the scheduled plan and is one of the major concerns of the
construction project (Thorat, Khandare, & Kanase, 2017). When a construction project is
delayed the parties involved in the construction project have to bear huge losses as the
planning and activities have to be postponed which results in cost overruns. The construction
delays have a negative impact on the parties that are involved in the project such as the
contractors, consultants and clients. There is a huge financial loss for the customers and there
is a loss of profit for the contractors involved in the project because of high overhead costs. It
has been reported by the Indian Government that 251 out of 782 construction projects in
India are delayed with a time overrun of 1 to 261 months (Rathod & Dhall, 2017).
In this research, the focus will be on identifying the reasons behind construction delays in
India along the effects of the delay on the completion cost. This study attempts to overcome
the gap in the research by determining the different factors that are responsible for delays in
the construction project along with impact of delays on the cost of the project. The target
respondents of this study will include the construction site engineers and project managers.
Construction in India has significantly increased and the issue of delays in the projects has
also increased. Therefore, it is important to determine root cause of these delays so that each
factor can be addressed. The time and cost of a construction project have a parallel
relationship, as the time for the project will increase, cost of the project will also increase

(Fugar & Agyakwah-Baah, 2010). It is crucial to control and monitor the time taken by the
projects to complete so as to control the cost of the construction project.
Research aim, objectives and research questions
The aim of this project is to determine the causes of delays in the construction projects in
India along with their impact on the cost of the project.
In this context, the objectives of the research are as a follows:
 Objective 1: To find the problems related to the delays caused by owners,
contractors, location effects, modifications in the schedule or plan, and slow decision
making.
 Objective 2: To determine and analyze the main reasons of the problem stated above
with R.I.I factor calculation.
 Objective 3: To propose solution that can mitigate the problems listed in the above
objective.
The major research questions for this research are as follows:
Research question 1: What are the factors responsible for delays in the construction projects
in India?
Research question 2: What is the main reason of delays in the construction projects in India?
Research question 3: How can the problem of delays be mitigated?
The above listed research objectives and questions will help in providing a direction to the
research.
Justification and Possible Output of the Research Project
This research project focuses on determining the causes related to delays in the construction
project. Delays are insidious in nature and result in cost overruns, disputes, abandonment of