Effect of Project Managers Skills on Performance of Government Construction Projects in Rwanda: A Case of Pfunda-Karongi Road Construction Project

Across the World, the rapid development of construction projects has effectively facilitated increase in road construction failures. Managers skills and knowledge are found to be the major and most significant factors for the successful performance of any project. In Rwanda most of construction projects are commonly criticized for their delays, budget deviations and low product quality. In 2015, Rwanda Transport Development Agency declared that 51 % of road construction projects experience time, and cost overruns. Even if Rwanda has seen a significant rise in infrastructure development in the recent past years especially in the field of public infrastructure construction, most of road construction projects have failed to achieve their success due to lack of project managers skills to cope with the increased risk and uncertainty in the construction industry. The general objective of this study was to assess the effect of project managers skills on performance of government road construction projects in Rwanda. The study will focused on the skills of project managers and their effect on performance of government road construction project in western province of Rwanda in the districts of Rubavu, Rutsiro and Karongi and it considered the time frame between 2015 and 2017. The study used descriptive survey research design. Its target population equaled to 66 managers who are involved in the management of this Pfunda - Karongi road construction project. The study used questionnaires to collect first hand information. The researcher concluded a positive relationship between project managers technical skills and performance of government construction projects in Rwanda since the results of correlation between project managers technical skills and the performance of Pfunda-Karongi project was at 0.713. The researcher furthermore concluded a significant relationship between project managers human skills and performance of government construction projects in Rwanda as the results of correlation between project managers human skills and the performance of Pfunda-Karongi project was at 0.640. The study recommended that project managers skills should be a key factor to consider when selecting the managers to manage a construction project since it requires skilled and experienced managers who are able to cope with a myriad of challenges and uncertainties associated with the road construction project. The researcher recommends to the government of Rwanda and the project owners to provide trainings for their project managers in order to upgrade their skills in managing construction projects since they are liable for uncontrollable factors. Finally, the project managers should continue and improve their ways of motivating their project staff, technicians and other employees involved in their projects since employee motivation has been seen as a key contributor to the performance of projects.