Causes of troubled and delayed construction projects in Iraq: University buildings as a case study.

Troubled projects are one of the most pressing tasks facing the construction industry due to the challenging sector and the interrelationship among the major causes of delays. The study aimed to identify the reasons for the delay of the stalled projects in Iraq. A literature review was conducted on troubled and delayed construction projects, and interviews were conducted with a group of experts in the construction environment sector in Iraq. As a result, a questionnaire has been prepared that includes (55) reasons for delays in construction projects in Iraq. The reasons were grouped into six categories: financial, technical, legal, managerial, political, economic, and external reasons. A field survey was conducted using the relative importance index (RII) to assess these reasons. 62 questionnaires are the total number of distributed questionnaires that are valid for analysis. The results concluded that the troubled and delayed projects related to financial, external, economic, and legal reasons were in the first three places, with a total rate of RII equal to 0.93, 0.91, and 0.89, respectively. The performance of the Iraqi construction sector can be improved by using these results, which can be useful to project managers in the field. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]