| This research discusses the delay in public water and sewage construction projects in Saudi Arabia. It studies frequency, extent, and importance of causes of delay in such projects. Sixty causes were identified and classified by source into 6 groups.;A field survey was conducted through a structured questionnaire including 23 contractors, 12 consultant engineers, and 10 water & sewage authorities in the Eastern Province and Riyadh Province. Frequency and extent of delay were determined. SAS was used to analyze the data to present statistical measures and to calculate the importance index and ranking of the causes for each individual party and as an aggregate (standard) importance.;A hypothesis that the parties generally agree on the importance ranking of the causes of delay was tested. It was concluded that the contractor disagrees with the consultant and the owner in the importance ranking of the causes.;The research concluded that the delay occurred frequently in such projects, specially in medium and large size projects, and that the extent of delay is severe, specially in small projects. The study concluded that there are many important causes of delay related mainly to owner involvement, contractor performance, and the early planning and design of the project. Among these important causes are financial problems, changes in the design and scope of the projects, delay in making decisions and gaining approvals by the owner, difficulties in obtaining work permits, and coordination and communication problems. |
