The impact of project management on road construction and maintenance at Emfuleni Local Municipality

Abstract

The study is contextualized within the framework of project management, and the significant role it plays in road projects, specifically on road construction and maintenance in Emfuleni Local Municipality (ELM), South Africa. South Africa is rapidly changing, and with change comes development and improvement with regard to the economy and infrastructure. With special reference to road construction and maintenance, The South African road network saw a vast improvement, from national highway lanes and roads being added and constructed, to local municipality road networks such as those of ELM being constructed and maintained because two international soccer teams, Switzerland and Ivory Coast were based in ELM for the duration of the FIFA World Cup 2010. One of the characteristics of project management is that, projects have a beginning and an end period, so road construction and maintenance projects are considered as projects that need to be managed from their starting points all the way to their completion points. The hypothesis for this study indicated that maintaining a high standard road network in the face of increasing traffic demands will need an improvement in project management systems to model and design the roads in ELM. To achieve this, the ELM will need to outsource its road construction and maintenance projects to highly recommended engineering companies that have experience in quality road construction and maintenance projects. Those community members that reside in the community where a road construction or maintenance project is taking place should also be hired by ELM or the outsourced companies if the community members are qualified to do such work, this will lower the local unemployment rate of that community and in turn be able to help hired community members to support their families. Local community members play a significant role in preventing road construction equipment from being stolen after working hours, as this slows down the road construction and maintenance projects as a result of lack of proper equipment. The main aim of the study was to investigate the impact of project management on road construction and maintenance at ELM. The objective of this study analyse the role of project management on road construction and maintenance in ELM; and to evaluate the tools employed to monitor road construction and maintenance projects in ELM. The objectives were realized by the use of literature review and empirical surveys in ELM. The study concludes with a series of recommendations for effective implementation of project management tools and using these tools to help improve road construction and maintenance projects.