COVID-19—Assessment of Economic and Schedule Delay Impact in Indian Construction Industry Using Regression Method

Abstract

Coronavirus (COVID-19) is a Global pandemic and has severe impacts on the economy and schedule delay of the various industries including the construction sector. The construction industry is the second largest industry after agriculture in India. The current pandemic caused all projects and onsite construction work to halt abruptly which raised the need for the researcher to analyze and be prepared for such crises in the future. This research investigates the net impact of the effect of COVID-19 on Indian construction projects by considering essential aspects and their net impact on the total cost and delay of the project. The risk factors impacting the construction industry are gathered from available resources and observation. The empirical study was done using a questionnaire survey with 62 responses collected from well-known construction companies from India. The significance of the delay and cost factors was investigated using the relative importance index method and regression modeling. From factor analysis, we identified that cost factors such as conditions of clients, delay in handing over the project, transportation cost, unforeseen circumstances, cost for site hygiene, and delay factors like lockdown period, labor shortage, delay in supply, late payments for completed work and material shortage are majorly affecting on economy and delay of the project. The regression models established will help to predict the impact of a factor on the cost and delay of the project. This data will help the client, project manager, and contractor to confront such disruption in the future.