Effect of Contract Management Practices on Performance of Road Construction Projects in Kigali, A Case of Rwandex-Remera Road Construction Project

Institutions rely on contracts with service providers to keep them on track. Shippers, vendors, outsourced services and independent contractors all require a high level of contract management to maintain efficiency for the institutions. Contract management for roads has been the norm all over the world, some countries especially African ones do not have a sufficient industry of independent contractors and road works are mostly done by force on account or awarded to state construction agencies on a negotiated basis. Kigali City recorded a high unit of periodic and routine maintenance of road works amounting to US12 million annually. If the trend continues, there will be low value for money and low customer satisfaction by constraining the limited financial resources. Contract management is still a challenge in Sub Saharan Africa, contractors are not performing as per the contract. Most of them are not fully equipped in terms of personnel, equipment and financial capacity. It is partly because of poor contract management which most of times lead to cancellation and suspension of funding for a number of road projects by World Bank largely due to poor funds and contract management. According to Kigali City Statistical (2016/2017), road works in good condition targeted in EDPRS II was 70 % while 51 % was achieved. Hence the need for the study to analyze the effect of contract management practices on performance of the road construction projects in Kigali City. The general objective of the study was to analyze the effect contract management practices on performance of road construction projects in Kigali City. The study adopted descriptive research. The target population 62 people including project managers, contractors, clients and all staff from Rwanda Transport Development Authority. During this study, the researcher adopted census sampling technique since the population was quite small. SPSS was used to process data after their collection. The researcher organized the questionnaires by numbering them for validation and checking. Questions were coded. Data presentation is in forms of tables in order to produce meaningful results. The researcher concluded a strong and positive relationship between management techniques and performance of Remera-Rwandex road construction project as their results of correlation between management techniques and project performance was at 0.720 meaning that management techniques affect project performance at the level of 72 % which prove a significant relationship between management techniques and performance of Rwandex-Remera road construction project. The researcher recommends the project managers to put much emphasis in management techniques including contract negotiation, understanding the terms of contract and contract monitoring frequency.