Abstract
The development of urban areas in Palestine is usually linked with the implementation of municipal road projects. The assessment of life cycle costs for municipal roads is presented in this research. This paper aims to highlight the main factors and their impact on the cost overrun during the different life cycle phases of road projects and therefore proposes recommendations that aim at reducing the differences between the estimated and actual costs. A study was conducted across twenty-six municipalities in the various regions of the West Bank. Over the study period of 2016 to 2018, there were 123 implemented road projects within these municipalities, where sixty-three of these projects surpassed their initial cost estimates and encountered cost overrun by an average of 26.9%. Among these, forty-seven projects were deemed suitable for research based on the assessment of the filled questionnaires by these municipalities. The main factors leading to cost overruns include challenging terrain, lack of specialized engineering offices for design and tender preparation, the timing of the tender release, awarding projects solely based on the lowest bids, changes during implementation, and financial constraints. Project cost measures that rely on professional management practices need to be considered in the planning designing, tendering, and implementing phases.
