Assessing project management practices and performance of government construction projects in Tanzania

Abstract

Using the regions of Arusha, Dar es Salaam, Dodoma, Morogooro, and Pwani as a case study, this research investigates how project management techniques affect the execution of public building projects in Tanzania. The study used the theory of construction management, the theory of the built environment, and resource mobilization theory to form its theoretical basis. The performance of construction projects in the aforementioned regions was monitored by the research project using the descriptive research approach. The study included government construction projects initiated between 2016 and 2024. Purposive sampling and simple random sampling were the sampling techniques used in this investigation. IBM's Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) program (version 25.0) was used to import the data. Descriptive statistics like frequency and percentage were the main tools used in this study's data analysis. Additionally, multiple regression, analysis of variance (ANOVA), and Pearson correlation were employed. The results of the study showed that project performance in Tanzania's construction industry was positively and significantly impacted by project management, resource scheduling, project communication management, and project monitoring and evaluation. According to the study, companies should have a project management plan that is started by the project managers and used as a project tool or device during the execution and monitoring phases. Additionally, all project managers should ensure that they have an adequate number of project team members and strike a balance between overstaffing and understaffing. The study concludes that when a firm has monitoring and evaluation mechanisms in place, it will increase the chance of rectifying deviations and hence have effective performance.