Construction project trouble factors influencing project success in Iraq

Troubled construction projects are a global problem. Iraqi construction projects thus naturally suffer from this phenomenon, and, indeed, most Iraqi government construction projects suffer issues during the implementation phase that increase both costs and time; completing a construction project within the planned cost and time limits has thus become a major challenge for all parties involved in the construction process in Iraq. Projects are rarely carried out within the estimated and planned boundaries, mainly due to the fact that most projects in the construction industry must deal with unwanted and unexpected events during their various phases that directly influence the basic project objectives, causing delays and sending work over budget, and potentially even leading to project failure. The research problem this highlights lies in the presence of so many troubled government projects in the construction sector: the purpose of the current research is to identify the major causes or critical factor affecting project performance and success. It is important to determine the types of factors causing trouble for Iraqi governmental projects in order for these to be more specifically mitigated or avoided in the future. Such an understanding should also assist all construction industry stakeholders seeking to increase the success of their projects, allowing construction professionals and other industry practitioners to take proactive actions to ensure more effective building project management. The research methodology was based on collecting and analysing various sources of information and data from Iraqi governmental projects, with such data collected from several sources. The research object thus consists of all public sector projects including buildings, roads, and bridges. The findings confirm the existence of many troubled projects in the construction sector in Iraq: the percentage of troubled building projects was 59.76%, while the percentage of troubled road and bridge projects was 92%. Many important factors that affected budgets and durations in the examined projects were thus discovered and classified according to the project parties and the stages of the projects affected. The findings show that, according to the impact on cost, the design and execution stages, have the most impact on building project issues, as do the consultant and the project owner, with road and bridge projects more likely to encounter issues. Similarly, change orders due to th