Possession of Site: Another Layer of Complexity in Road Construction

Time is money, and it is crucial to accelerate road construction to improve the accessibility and connectivity of infrastructure. Prolonged periods of project implementation lead to delays and cost overruns, and further delays could destabilize the construction industry, causing an economic slowdown. This study explores the causes of delay in giving site possession, a topic that has received little explicit attention. The authors qualitatively identified the causes of delayed site possession from 15 project case studies. The data analysis presented in this paper involves two stages: (1) exploring causes of delay in giving site possession from 15 federal road projects and (2) further reviewing three road projects to provide significant insights into the fundamental reasons for, and the impacts of, the delay. This approach contributes to a better understanding of the specific causes of delay using a qualitative approach. The findings show that a slow process in land acquisition, squatters, and compensation disputes contributed to delayed site possession. The authors developed a conceptual framework to recommend strategies for mitigating the delay and accelerating the timelines of road projects based on the findings.