Availability and capacity of the contractors. The number of contractors was limited and the number of responses from bidders was low. All civil work contractors were local and some lacked working facilities, funding resources, and/or skilled and qualified staff. The weak capacity of some local contractors was a major cause of project delays. Also, some civil works packages were geographically spread out, making it difficult for contractors to manage their resources, labor, and materials. Although some contracts were terminated and new contractors selected for the balance of the work, the overall capacity remained inadequate. In future projects, contract management should be enhanced, and the contract packages could be larger in scale to attract experienced, reputable nationwide or global contractors.
Rural Roads Sector II Investment Program (Project 2) - State of Orissa