Comparative Assessment between Provisional Sums in Private and Public Client Initiated Project in Nigeria

Abstract

A project is an activity moderated and measured within its set cost, time and quality. Funding of projects is as important as the project itself. Most projects are either funded by taxpayer’s money (Public initiated projects) or from individual’s pockets (Private initiated projects). Abuja, the capital of Nigeria is still developing after more than 30 years of creation, as evident with the volume of construction projects on going within the city. Cost overrun in the Nigerian construction industry is fast becoming a very popular occurrence especially in Abuja. This paper aims to conduct a comparative assessment of provisional sums in public and private client initiated projects in Abuja in a view to proffer solutions to the plague of cost and time overrun in construction projects. 50 structured questionnaires were administered to property developers and only 36 were eventually retrieved and employed for data analysis. The data was analysed using Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) and frequency distribution table. Findings revealed that the one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) between the two groups indicates that p<0.03 meaning that significant difference exist between the percentage differences of provisional sum in a private initiated project and public initiated project. It was also discovered that the Federal, State, and Local tiers of government are the biggest funders of public initiated projects while individuals; banks and churches are the biggest funders of private initiated projects. . The paper concluded that bureaucratic bottlenecks, corruption amongst other factors is responsible for fewer developers in public initiated projects. Government must reduce corruption, operational lapses and promote project continuity to reduce the number of abandoned projects and ensure qualitative delivery. Recommendations include that projects should be awarded and executed as soon as they are tendered to reduce the effect of inflation between tender time and project execution.

Keywords: Provisional Sum, Private Initiated Project, Public Initiated Project, Cost, Funding.