Preliminary Studies and Performance of Construction Projects in Rwanda: A Case of Gatuna One Stop Border Post

Abstract

In spite of the vibrant significance of preliminary studies in assisting choices related to government spending on construction programs, there are no efforts to appraise such studies once construction of facilities. Hence, this study seeks to investigate the contribution of preliminary study on performance of construction projects with specific reference to Gatuna one stop border post.  The study was guided by three specific objectives namely: to determine contribution of economic feasibility on performance of construction projects in Gatuna one stop border post; to assess contribution of technical requirements on performance of construction projects in Gatuna one stop border post as well as to determine how risk assessment contributes to the performance of construction projects in One Stop Border Post. The study will be important to Gatuna One Stop Border Post, citizen and traders in Rwanda. This study used descriptive research design .The target population of the study will be 150 Gatuna one stop border post staffs and a sample size of 109 beneficiaries, which was selected over, stratified random sampling technique. Questionnaires and guided interview were as data collection instruments where descriptive statistics was used for quantitative data analysis through the software of statistical package for the social sciences (SPSS) version 21,qualitative data were analyzed by using thematic method ; Karl  Pearson  product moment correlation coefficient was used to establish relationship between variables while regression analysis was used to check the influence of preliminary studies and performance of construction projects  at 32.1 percent of R -square. Cronbach's alpha coefficient of 73.1 percent showed that the instruments were reliable while the validity was established by peer discussion with experts. This study will be significant to site engineers, site supervisors and beneficiaries as well as ministry of infrastructure. The findings on the first objective showed that IRR, NPV, PBP and PI are considered as economic feasibility as it was confirmed by 83.1 percent of beneficiaries agreed that Internal Rate of Return is used to determine stages and timelines for test performance. The findings on the second objective showed that 85.4 percent of the beneficiaries agreed that they beneficiaries agreed that Appraisal of information infrastructure fulfils the sustainability of the project. The findings on the third objective showed that risk assessment influences construction project performance, it was also shown that there is significant low degree of positive correlation of 0.026 between risk assessment and performance of construction projects. It was concluded that effective implementation of preliminary study leads to positive performance of construction project. The study recommends that national budget planners and intervening people should provide financial facilities and make effective set up that should enhance performance of construction project.

Keywords: Preliminary Studies, Performance of Construction Projects, Rwanda