Project Management of Urban Road Rehabilitation Contracts in South West Nigeria: Challenges and Best Practices

Urban road rehabilitation contracts in South West Nigeria routinely experience cost overruns, schedule delays, and quality shortfalls that diminish public value and damage contractor relationships. This study investigates the project management challenges and identifies best practices in urban road rehabilitation contracts managed by state ministries in Lagos, Ogun, and Oyo States. A professional survey methodology was adopted, with structured questionnaires administered to 80 project managers, contract supervisors, and client representatives from ten completed road rehabilitation projects. Semi-structured interviews with eight senior project management professionals provided qualitative context. Key performance indicators including cost performance index, schedule performance index, and quality audit scores were analysed for each project. Results indicate that 70 percent of surveyed contracts experienced schedule overruns exceeding 30 percent of contract duration. Inadequate upfront site investigation data, contractor cash flow difficulties, and scope creep through variation orders were identified as the three most significant delay drivers. Projects employing resident engineers with full design authority achieved schedule performance indices 28 percent better than those relying on periodic part-time supervision. The study concludes that improved front-end project definition, mandatory contractor pre-qualification for financial capacity, and full-time resident engineer supervision are the most impactful project management improvements available to South West Nigerian road agencies. A road contract management framework incorporating these practices is proposed for adoption by state ministries of works.

Keywords: road rehabilitation, project management, contract performance, South West Nigeria, resident engineer