**5.1 Risk factors affecting public infrastructure projects**

The study's first objective was identifying the risk factors affecting public infrastructure projects. The risk factors identified by participants are listed in **Table 3**, with the prominent ones cited by most participants s being poor contractor performance, poor contract management and Community disruptions. The risk factors usually negatively impact a project's performance and success. Abd El-Karim [14] points out that the risk factors usually confront projects are cash flow issues, equipment shortages, late deliveries of goods, a lack of materials and poor craftsmanship contributing factors. Likewise, Kishan [8] found forty-four (44) risk factors for construction projects and were categorised into ten: managerial, cultural, construction, financial, political, logistical, design, environmental, legal and physical. This indicates that project risk factors faced by project implementers are similar. This is because participants in these stated issues, such as political interference and cashflow challenges of the municipalities executing the project, led to the delay in payment of the invoices submitted by contractors and consultants, which Kishan's findings support. Likewise, contractors have been found to mismanage the payment received from the client, leading to their inability to procure the required skilled personnel and execution of shoddy work. Heagney [45] stated that the causes for risk factors are appointed contractors graded by Construction Industry Development Board (CIDB) but do not have the skills, capacity, or technical know-how to execute the project effectively. Most of these issues emanate from political interference by people in higher authority and corrupt practices by the official during the contractor procurement process. As elaborated by P6, P9 and P12.

**P9:** *"Competency of Contractors. Cashflow of the contractor. Unforeseen factors on site - soil conditions, the community and business forms."*

**P12:** *"The biggest concern we have is that contractors are not performing well and this impacts negatively on the projects we have."*

**P6:** *"Contractors that are usually appointed intend to have a high grade level as per CIDB, but they are unable deliver the quality of work as required by their grading level."*

It has been identified by Koops [24] that effective project delivery might also include additional dependent elements, such as observable performance, to meet customer expectations. This point could be linked to what participants mentioned about contractors' poor performance, as mentioned by P12. The issue of poor contract management on the part of the project managers was also a significant issue raised by many participants. For instance, P15 and P28 suggested that, more often, it becomes challenging to understand the type of contract used to manage the project, thus hampering their ability to manage the terms and conditions of the contract properly. Likewise, most project consultants need help understanding the contract used to manage the project, hampering the ability to enforce it when the contractors flout its rules. P28, on the other hand, stated that project consultants often start projects with preliminary designs leading to scoop creep at the later stage of the projects. Oke et al. [21] mentioned some causes of bad infrastructure delivery, such as cost overruns, project delays, poor quality, poor money management and poor social benefits in service delivery. Heagney [45] believes project planning should incorporate risk assessments within predetermined project objectives. The views of P3, P15 and P28 are stated as follows:

**P15***: "The management of contracts, we do not even know what are the type contracts that are utilised for example is it the JBBC or what"*

**P28:** *"Projects completed beyond schedule, Time and cost overruns, Implementation of projects with un-approved designs, Validity of appointment letters, Variation orders, Poor risk identification"*

**P3***: "The issue of planning of projects it is a serious challenge, the planning process impacts on the entire duration of the project"*

Many participants also mentioned the issue of community disruptions of ongoing and new projects in the province. More often, groups emerge with names such as a business forum, construction mafia, etc., coming to project sites and demanding some portion of the contract amount to be allocated. Adherence to the demand by the contractor will lead to the closure of the site as they will come and damage site equipment and steel or destroy the materials on site till the project implementers meet their demands. This phenomenon is becoming rampant in the Northern Cape provinces and other areas in South Africa, posing a major risk to smooth project implementation and causing significant project delays. For instance, P10 list his project risk factors as follows:

**P10***: "Contractors tender higher than on private construction projects. Interference of Construction Mafia/Construction Forums can increase tender amounts and construction time, interference with appointments of Contractors, Community interference with construction."*

**P6:** *"Capital availability, Price inflation of materials, Scarcity of materials, Business forum interruption, Pandemic risk and Community interruption."*

### *Risk Factors Affecting Public Infrastructure Projects DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.112002*

Some participants also mentioned unforeseen events such as site conditions, environmental conditions, and site challenges as contributory risk factors for their projects. More often, project consultants fail to do feasibility studies by examining the site conditions to check the suitability of the land for the intended project. Thus, issues with soil incapacity to sustain the proposed project led to delays. Likewise, the government's inability to properly acquire the land earmarked for the project from the traditional leaders led to site ownership issues when the project was about to commence. These issues were also identified by Mwamvani et al. [46], where road infrastructure projects in Malawi needed to be completed due to project site issues.
