Impact of utility works in road projects in Sri Lanka and proposed mitigation measurers

Abstract

Road projects are experiencing huge delays in Sri Lanka due to utility relocation, delays in releasing payments, design changes during construction phase, price escalation and land acquisition to accommodate utility relocation. In some instances, contract of utility projects was awarded when road works were nearing completion. There is no sound legislation that exists defining the powers, rights and obligations of Roads and Utility authorities. As a result, Roads Authorities in Sri Lanka are obliged to pay all costs associated with the above impacts, along with extension of time due to such delays from the allocated funds for road works. This has been causing burden to the project scope and impacting the economy of Sri Lanka. As such, it is important to identify suitable remedial measures to mitigate such impacts during the design and construction stages. Qualitative research method was adopted through the inductive process by selecting purposive samples of experts for semi structured in-depth interviews. In addition, more data was collected through documents review. This study revealed that the knowledge gap in the sector to identify and recommended remedial measures for impacts caused by utility works in road projects in Sri Lanka.