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An Assessment of Disputes Resolution Mechanisms in Road Construction Projects in Tanzania

Received: 30 December 2021     Accepted: 17 January 2022     Published: 25 January 2022
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Abstract

Over the years, Tanzania National Roads Agency (TANROADS) has been facing a number of disputes, some of them ending in judicial courts. The reasons for disputes are partly due to having improper handling of project disputes by TANROADS and contactors as caused by both of them having inexperienced technical staff and in part due to having improper framework or having ineffective guidelines on how to handle such conflicts. To determine the extent of the above problems, it was vital to carry out a study by consulting key stakeholders through interviews in form of questionnaires and by case studies of disputed projects in TANROADS. In this regard, factors that cause disputes in the road construction industry were listed down and grouped into four clusters, namely: technical, contractual obligation, managerial and administrative, country laws and political. The current mechanisms to resolve conflicts in road construction were found to include; amicable settlement, adjudication, mediation, expert determination, neutral evaluation, conciliation, mediation, arbitration and litigation. However, these mechanisms have been inefficient, ineffective and lacking guiding framework to resolve such conflicts. Pursuant to the above, it was recommended that contracting parties need to establish the Dispute Review Board (DRB) similar to that used in UK and USA after signing the contract. Members of DRB shall be appointed by the contracting parties and approved by the National Construction Council (NCC). DRB members will be nominated from areas of specialization such as contract management and administration, engineering, procurement, law and finance. DRB members should have adequate qualification, experience, and technical know – how. It is expected that the Board will assist in resolving the disputes speedily and cost virtually exclusive of the necessity for arbitration or judicial courts. This can be achieved by enabling close communication and friendly settlement encouragement of controversial project related issues at the execution level before they become disputes.

Published in American Journal of Civil Engineering (Volume 10, Issue 1)
DOI 10.11648/j.ajce.20221001.12
Page(s) 13-22
Creative Commons

This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.

Copyright

Copyright © The Author(s), 2022. Published by Science Publishing Group

Keywords

Factors, Mechanisms, Disputes, Resolution

References
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[11] Getahun, A. (2017) 'Assessment of Construction Dispute Resolution in Ethiopian Somali Regional State Road Projects: A Case Study on Road Projects in the Region', American Journal of Civil Engineering, 4 (6), p. 282. doi: 10.11648/j.ajce.20160406.13.
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[14] Khekale, C. and Futane, N. (2013) 'Management of Claims and Disputes in Construction Industry', International Journal of Science and Research (IJSR) ISSN (Online Index Copernicus Value Impact Factor, 14 (5), pp. 2319-7064. Available at: www.ijsr.net.
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Cite This Article
  • APA Style

    Meshack Kabote, Bavo Blasius Nyichomba. (2022). An Assessment of Disputes Resolution Mechanisms in Road Construction Projects in Tanzania. American Journal of Civil Engineering, 10(1), 13-22. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ajce.20221001.12

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    ACS Style

    Meshack Kabote; Bavo Blasius Nyichomba. An Assessment of Disputes Resolution Mechanisms in Road Construction Projects in Tanzania. Am. J. Civ. Eng. 2022, 10(1), 13-22. doi: 10.11648/j.ajce.20221001.12

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    AMA Style

    Meshack Kabote, Bavo Blasius Nyichomba. An Assessment of Disputes Resolution Mechanisms in Road Construction Projects in Tanzania. Am J Civ Eng. 2022;10(1):13-22. doi: 10.11648/j.ajce.20221001.12

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  • @article{10.11648/j.ajce.20221001.12,
      author = {Meshack Kabote and Bavo Blasius Nyichomba},
      title = {An Assessment of Disputes Resolution Mechanisms in Road Construction Projects in Tanzania},
      journal = {American Journal of Civil Engineering},
      volume = {10},
      number = {1},
      pages = {13-22},
      doi = {10.11648/j.ajce.20221001.12},
      url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ajce.20221001.12},
      eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.ajce.20221001.12},
      abstract = {Over the years, Tanzania National Roads Agency (TANROADS) has been facing a number of disputes, some of them ending in judicial courts. The reasons for disputes are partly due to having improper handling of project disputes by TANROADS and contactors as caused by both of them having inexperienced technical staff and in part due to having improper framework or having ineffective guidelines on how to handle such conflicts. To determine the extent of the above problems, it was vital to carry out a study by consulting key stakeholders through interviews in form of questionnaires and by case studies of disputed projects in TANROADS. In this regard, factors that cause disputes in the road construction industry were listed down and grouped into four clusters, namely: technical, contractual obligation, managerial and administrative, country laws and political. The current mechanisms to resolve conflicts in road construction were found to include; amicable settlement, adjudication, mediation, expert determination, neutral evaluation, conciliation, mediation, arbitration and litigation. However, these mechanisms have been inefficient, ineffective and lacking guiding framework to resolve such conflicts. Pursuant to the above, it was recommended that contracting parties need to establish the Dispute Review Board (DRB) similar to that used in UK and USA after signing the contract. Members of DRB shall be appointed by the contracting parties and approved by the National Construction Council (NCC). DRB members will be nominated from areas of specialization such as contract management and administration, engineering, procurement, law and finance. DRB members should have adequate qualification, experience, and technical know – how. It is expected that the Board will assist in resolving the disputes speedily and cost virtually exclusive of the necessity for arbitration or judicial courts. This can be achieved by enabling close communication and friendly settlement encouragement of controversial project related issues at the execution level before they become disputes.},
     year = {2022}
    }
    

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  • TY  - JOUR
    T1  - An Assessment of Disputes Resolution Mechanisms in Road Construction Projects in Tanzania
    AU  - Meshack Kabote
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    Y1  - 2022/01/25
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    JF  - American Journal of Civil Engineering
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    AB  - Over the years, Tanzania National Roads Agency (TANROADS) has been facing a number of disputes, some of them ending in judicial courts. The reasons for disputes are partly due to having improper handling of project disputes by TANROADS and contactors as caused by both of them having inexperienced technical staff and in part due to having improper framework or having ineffective guidelines on how to handle such conflicts. To determine the extent of the above problems, it was vital to carry out a study by consulting key stakeholders through interviews in form of questionnaires and by case studies of disputed projects in TANROADS. In this regard, factors that cause disputes in the road construction industry were listed down and grouped into four clusters, namely: technical, contractual obligation, managerial and administrative, country laws and political. The current mechanisms to resolve conflicts in road construction were found to include; amicable settlement, adjudication, mediation, expert determination, neutral evaluation, conciliation, mediation, arbitration and litigation. However, these mechanisms have been inefficient, ineffective and lacking guiding framework to resolve such conflicts. Pursuant to the above, it was recommended that contracting parties need to establish the Dispute Review Board (DRB) similar to that used in UK and USA after signing the contract. Members of DRB shall be appointed by the contracting parties and approved by the National Construction Council (NCC). DRB members will be nominated from areas of specialization such as contract management and administration, engineering, procurement, law and finance. DRB members should have adequate qualification, experience, and technical know – how. It is expected that the Board will assist in resolving the disputes speedily and cost virtually exclusive of the necessity for arbitration or judicial courts. This can be achieved by enabling close communication and friendly settlement encouragement of controversial project related issues at the execution level before they become disputes.
    VL  - 10
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Author Information
  • Tanzania National Roads Agency, Ministry of Works and Transport, Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania

  • Mechanical and Industrial Engineering, College of Engineering and Technology, University of Dar es Salaam, Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania

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