Factors affecting successful implementation of government funded projects in technical institutions in Garissa County

Abstract

Several government funded projects in tertiary institutions have stalled; others have been completed but not in line with the intended specifications while others exceed the stipulated completion periods. A project which is unsuccessful exceeds its schedule and budget whether it is eventually completed or not. Public institutions are generally afraid of project failure because they make big investments to the project in terms of money, time and manpower. This study sought to determine the factors affecting implementation of public projects funded by the National Government in Technical Training Institutions in Garissa County, Kenya. The objectives of the study were; to determine the influence of government funding on project implementation; to establish the influence of security on project implementation; to find out the influence of monitoring and evaluation in Government funded projects, and to determine the influence of stakeholders’ participation on project implementation in technical training institutions in Garissa County. The study adopted a descriptive survey design. The target population comprised project committee members, project managers, project supervisors, contractors, members of mentoring institution for the proposed technical training institutions and the county works officers. Purposive sampling was used to select samples from the target population; Questionnaire was used to collect data; Descriptive statistics was used to analyze collected data that were generated by SPSS. The study found that the delay in the release of funds and the provision of inadequate funds were major factors that negatively affect project implementation, while insecurity led to major price variations as project teams used substantial amounts of money on security. Insecurity also scared away more qualified contractors from other parts of Kenya from bidding for tenders. The study therefore recommends that after the approval of any government funded project, funds should be released in good time to avoid price variations due to time lapse. Involvement of the local community in project implementation would go a long way in curbing insecurity as they can report insecurity cases to the local intelligence for appropriate action.