Research Proposal: Delays in Government Construction - India

This research proposal examines the pervasive issue of delays in Indian construction projects, focusing on the Navi Mumbai International Airport as a case study. It identifies the problem statement, research aim, and objectives, which include identifying reasons for construction delays, investigating challenges faced due to delays in the Navi Mumbai Airport project, and developing recommendations to overcome these challenges. The proposed research methodology involves an interpretivism philosophy and an inductive approach, utilizing secondary data from news articles, governmental reports, and industry reports. Thematic analysis will be employed to analyze the collected data and provide a comprehensive understanding of the factors contributing to construction delays in India and their consequences.

Running head: RESEARCH PROPOSAL
Delays in Government Construction Project in India:
Case study of Navi Mumbai International Airport construction delays
Name of the Student:
Name of the University:
Author Note:

1
RESEARCH PROPOSAL
Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................2
Problem Statement...........................................................................................................................2
Research Aim...................................................................................................................................3
Research Objectives.........................................................................................................................3
Research Methodology....................................................................................................................3
References........................................................................................................................................5
Appendix..........................................................................................................................................6

2
RESEARCH PROPOSAL
Introduction
Several construction projects in India have been experiencing the delays, which is
exceeding the capital amount and delivery time much recognizably. According to Kumar R
(2016), ‘delay’ is generally conceptualized as the extension or overrun of the time to complete
any project. The research study would explore the case study of Navi Mumbai International
Airport construction process, which has been facing the considerable delays currently. The study
would propose the fruitful aim and objectives to investigate the core areas of the research issues.
The use of the appropriate methodology would be introduced in this proposal.
Problem Statement
The Navi Mumbai International Airport construction project is considered as one of the
biggest Greenfield airports in the world. Identifying the project activities and rechecking the
clearances, it was expected that the operational activities would be starting by the year of 2019. It
was even assumed that the airport would reach the maximum capacity of 60 million passengers
per year by 2030 (Hindustantimes.com, 2018). The budget of this project was estimated nearly
₹16,000 crore that has been planning for two decades (Doloi et al., 2012). However, it has been
observed that some of the host of ministries and government agencies has had the issues with the
project delays due to the inappropriate clearance and the obstacles created in land acquisition. It
was thus expected that the pre-development work could start in April 2017. However, the
continuous obstruction in this construction process suggests a new timeline, which indicates that
the operational activities would start by 2020. On the other hand, the obtained information from
City and Industrial Development Corporation (CIDCO) indicates that the operations of Navi
Mumbai Airport would take place by 2021 (Hindustantimes.com, 2018). However, Jayant Sinha,

3
RESEARCH PROPOSAL
the minister of state for civil aviation reported that it would take more five years or the first few
flights to take off from this airport. The study would thus reflect on the possible issues for such
continuous delays in the construction process. Accordingly, it would provide the clear ideas
about the subject area by acquiring a broader knowledge.
Research Aim
The aim of the research is to investigate the probable issues identified in the Indian
construction industry that cause the considerable delays. The study also attempts to identify the
consequences of these delays that affect the regular operational process in India.
Research Objectives
 To identify the probable reasons for the construction delays in construction industry
 To investigate the challenges faced in due to the delays in operational process of Navi
Mumbai International Airport project in India
 To develop the preferable recommendation to overcome these challenges
Research Methodology
The research methodology describes the systematic approach of conducting the research
study more appropriately. The use of the appropriate philosophy, research approaches, research
techniques, and appropriate data collection process would help in structuring the entire research
study in a detailed way (Flick, 2015). The study aims to focus on the issues related to the
construction delays in the government construction project in India. Therefore, it is essential to
select the appropriate methods to analyze the in-depth ideas of the construction projects and
possible reasons for delays. The interpretivism philosophy would be appropriate for this study to

4
RESEARCH PROPOSAL
analyze the information with proper interpretation of the issues. On the other hand, the use of the
inductive approach would be fruitful in this context as the study deals with the existing
information related to the construction project delays. The detailed ideas of the consequences due
to the project delays would be analyzed by using the inductive approach. The study would even
use the descriptive design to present the elaborated ideas of the issues signified for this
particular research area.
The study would develop the secondary data collection process for conducting the
research related to the continuous delays in the government construction project in India. The
study would develop the thematic analysis of the research in which the examples of different
cases would be described to gather ideas about the subject areas. The secondary data would be
collected from the secondary sources like News Articles, governmental reports, industry
reports, and project description articles. The case examples and the government declaration
discussed in this theme-based analysis would provide the clarified and elaborated knowledge
regarding the case scenario and the similar consequences faced in the construction industry in
India. The use of the theme based approach for analyzing the data collected from the secondary
sources would be helpful for this research process to develop the clear understanding regarding
the subject matter.

5
RESEARCH PROPOSAL
References
Doloi, H., Sawhney, A., Iyer, K. C., & Rentala, S. (2012). Analysing factors affecting delays in
Indian construction projects. International Journal of Project Management, 30(4), 479-
489.
Flick, U. (2015). Introducing research methodology: A beginner's guide to doing a research
project. Sage.
Hindustantimes.com (2018). Mumbai will have to wait five years for Navi Mumbai airport:
Maharashtra aviation minister. [online] https://www.hindustantimes.com/. Available at:
<https://www.hindustantimes.com/mumbai-news/mumbai-will-have-to-wait-five-years-
for-navi-mumbai-airport-maharashtra-aviation-minister/story-
fg3pFWY5LWI0iuJlXO3U1M.html> [Accessed 5 Apr. 2018].
Kumar R, D. (2016). Causes and Effects of Delays in Indian Construction Projects. International
Research Journal of Engineering And Technology (IRJET), 3(4), 1-7.

6
RESEARCH PROPOSAL
Appendix
Mumbai will have to wait five years for Navi Mumbai airport: Maharashtra aviation minister
Meanwhile, the aviation ministry will try to enhance flight capacity at Mumbai’s
congested Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport (CSIA).
CIDCO officials had earlier said that one of the runways at the new airport would be operational by
2019. (HT Photo)







Although the City and Industrial Development Corporation (CIDCO),
which is developing Mumbai’s second airport in Navi Mumbai,
expects the facility to be operational by 2021, minister of state for

7
RESEARCH PROPOSAL
civil aviation, Jayant Sinha, said that it will take five years for the first
few flights to take off from there.
Meanwhile, the aviation ministry will try to enhance flight capacity at
Mumbai’s congested Mumbai’s Chhatrapati Shivaji International
Airport (CSIA).
CIDCO officials had earlier said that one of the runways at the new
airport would be operational by 2019.
Despite the delays and extensions for submission of bids for
construction, GVK group, which is building the airport, recently set a
new deadline of 2021 for commercial launch of the city’s second
airport, which is expected to ease the burden of air traffic on Mumbai
airport and increase number of flight operations to and from the city.
Sinha, who spoke through a video link on Wednesday at a summit
hosted by aviation think tank Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation
(CAPA) in Mumbai, said, “Mumbai remains the most bottlenecked
single runway airport due to which aviation growth is a concern.
There is no quick way to add capacity until the Navi Mumbai airport
comes up in the next four to five years.”
Sydney-based CAPA, in their report last year, had said that the
Mumbai airport, which has currently reached 94% of its maximum
passenger handling capacity, will reach its saturation point in 2018.

8
RESEARCH PROPOSAL
The airport currently handles 45.2 million passengers and sees around
930 flight operations per day, and will handle 48 million passengers in
2018. Reaching its saturation would mean that it will increase
additional daily flights by 48 this year.
CAPA in its 2017 report had said that the Navi Mumbai airport can be
thrown open to passengers only by 2024 at the earliest. Owing to the
delay in the city’s second airport, there could be severe congestion at
Mumbai airport, stated the report tracking the city’s aviation traffic
growth, which is the lowest among the six metros.
Speaking on the efforts made by the government to manage air traffic,
Sinha said,“Every element in the system has to be worked upon. One
of the most important challenges is airspace, and we are working
closely with the air force to manage air traffic. Major research in air
navigation systems is also under way.”