AN EVALUATION OF THE CAUSES OF ABANDONED PUBLIC DEVELOPMENT PROJECTS

AN EVALUATION OF THE CAUSES OF ABANDONED PUBLIC DEVELOPMENT PROJECTS (ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE PROJECT TOPICS AND MATERIALS)

ABSTRACT

Abandonment of development projects (ACP) is considered one of the most common and serious problems plaguing the Abuja development industry given the number and the value of the projects involved. It affects not only the immediate purchasers but also other project players and the general public. Sometimes it also involves expending public fund to revive abandoned projects. Yet, research is scarce on this issue; hence this research was conducted to investigate  the  problems.  Firstly  the  issues  surrounding  the  problem  and existing literature on the causes of ACP are reviewed. Then, potential causes of ACP are also reviewed and summarized into 41 items to be rated in an industry wide questionnaire survey. The questionnaire also includes an open-ended question on suggestions to solve ACP. 225 questionnaire responses were received. Subsequently, a series of ten semi-structured interviews were conducted to obtain detailed opinions from experienced players in the industry concerning  the  causes  of  ACP  and  how  to  solve  the  problems.  The interviewees include architects, developers, property consultants, the honorary secretary general of the National House Buyers Association etc. to ensure a comprehensive view was obtained. Quantitative analyses include ranking of the 41 potential causes of ACP with Spearman‟s ranking correlation between different groups of respondents, and factor analysis with Cronbach’s α reliability analysis. Qualitative analyses include organizing into themes the results of the open ended question on solving ACP and the results of the semi- structured interviews. Discussions include interpreting the underlying factors extracted from factor analysis in light of the qualitative results. The results show the owner to be mainly responsible for ACP (i.e. cash flow problems, incompetence,  siphoning  out  of  money,  etc.),  followed  by  the  role  of government regulations. A risk management expert system module within BIM, a middle ground solution between the sell-then-build and build-then-sell schemes, and others are proposed.

AN EVALUATION OF THE CAUSES OF ABANDONED PUBLIC DEVELOPMENT PROJECTS (ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE PROJECT TOPICS AND MATERIALS)