ABSTRACT
Operational efficiency of civil contractors on road projects is a crucial aspect of successful infrastructure delivery. Still, inefficiencies in planning, procurement, and resource use lead to delays, cost overruns, and quality shortfalls, undermining contractor profitability. This paper investigates the challenges to operational efficiency among Tanzanian civil contractors in road projects. Using a structured questionnaire, 113 responses were obtained from local civil contractors working on road projects. Exploratory factor analysis identifies four challenge domains which are project management, procurement, client and labour, and material and equipment. This paper proposes a Tanzania-specific operational efficiency framework and prioritize interventions via factor loadings. Based on empirical prioritization, the paper proposes short-term tactical interventions such as project management workshops, standardized bid templates, and bulk purchase agreement. Additionally, long-term interventions include: strategic policies such as regulatory transparency reforms, industry–university capacity-building partnerships and introduced local manufacturing clusters.
