Civil Engineering October 2021 | Vol 29 No 9

22 October 2021 Civil Engineering I t has been reported that only 25% of construction projects worldwide are completed on time and within budget (Venter, 2015). Key construction project performance indicators such as time, cost and quality, are not being delivered successfully in many construction project undertakings (Adebowale, et al., 2020). While meeting these three criteria, referred to as the project management criteria, has been an issue worldwide, it is a particular challenge for developing countries. South Africa is no exception to this; rather, it has been on a decline in construction delivery performance since the 2010 FIFA World Cup. Project delivery at a municipal level has been poor over the past decade (Van Der Waldt, 2014) and numerous projects have not been delivered on time, at the right quality and within budget (Van Der Waldt, 2014). The public construction sector is essential to South Africa’s economic and social development, making it vital to understand the causes of such continuous poor performance across the country. Furthermore, these investigative findings can be used to improve performance. This study therefore aims to identify the extent of failure in South African municipal projects using various success criteria and identify the major causes thereof. LITERATURE REVIEW The South African construction industry From 2000 to 2009, construction had the highest growth and contribution rate to GDP of any sector, with a contribution of 3.2% in 2009 (National Treasury, 2010). In 2019 it contributed only 3.1% showing a decrease in GDP contribution (Statistics South Africa, 2020). The sector’s growth has declined significantly because of the unsettled political environment (Deloitte, 2019; African Competition Forum, 2019) and it is no secret that the industry is ex- periencing cost overruns, shrinking profit margins, labour disruptions and poor pro- ductivity, a shortage of skilled workers and the rising cost of inputs (Deloitte, 2019). South African municipalities and the construction sector The local government mandate in South Africa is to provide municipal services to communities and the purpose of munici- palities is to work with communities and citizens to find sustainable ways to meet their economic, social and material needs in order to better the conditions of their lives. This implies that local government has to structure and manage budget, administration, and planning processes, prioritising the basic needs of their com- munities (Pillay, et al., 2013). According to the Department of Provincial and Local Government (2020), municipal projects have six phases: project planning, concept and viability, design development, documentation and procurement, construction, and close-out. For local municipalities to deliver services to communities, they are required to develop an integrated development plan (IDP) and a performance management system (Steytler, 2003). IDPs aim to identify and assess communities’ needs and address those needs through the conceptualisation of projects during a pre-feasibility process. This process is ap- plied to new projects as well as upgrading or refurbishing of existing infrastructure and is developed every five years by mu- nicipalities (Department of Provincial and Local Government, 2020). Project success Construction projects are influenced by two significant factors: the internal and external environment. The external environment is the project ecosystem, while the internal environment integrates and influences three basic components that are dependent on each other: pro- cesses, skills, and tools (Banihashemi, et al., 2017). Processes are the development activities defined in the policies, proce- dures, roles and responsibilities required in managing development projects. These include government and donor regula- tions which heavily influence the project. Skills are the capabilities of people in charge of managing the project, who need to follow the processes and procedures to ensure quality services are provided by the organisation. Tools are defined as the techniques and devices selected by the organisation to facilitate the manage- ment of the project, meet its objectives, and facilitate its contractual obligations (Banihashemi, et al., 2017). Project success is the delivery of the scope of a project at the desired quality, on schedule and within the specified budget. These success criteria for project management are known as the iron tri- angle (Atkinson, 1999). The management team of any project works to achieve these Investigation into South African municipal construction project failures Tapiwanashe Mugumbate Master’s degree candidate University of Johannesburg tapiwamugumbate@gmail.com Deon Kruger Pr Eng FSAICE Senior Lecturer University of Johannesburg dkruger@uj.ac.za Rarely are construction projects in South Africa delivered without encountering several problems that result in time and cost overruns, causing a lack of completion or poor-quality delivery. This has been a problem specifically for the public sector and, as such, construction projects at national, provincial and local government levels have consistently experienced project failure, sparking an urgent need to identify the reasons and causes of such poor performance.