ASSESSING THE EFFECTIVENESS OF

MAINTENANCE PROJECT MANAGEMENT

PRACTICES IN GHANA. A CASE OF GA-WEST
MUNICIPAL ASSEMBLY.

BY
Conrad Kwame Agbakpe
 Background to the study
■ Governments worldwide are inundated with the responsibility of providing basic social amenities such as
roads, healthcare and education (Bahreini, et al., 2012).

■ most developing countries such as Ghana has a huge infrastructural deficit which is caused by low
infrastructural investments and poor maintenance practices of existing ones.

■ the life span of buildings begins to deteriorate from its inception due to exposure of the project to harsh
climatic conditions. Therefore, maintenance management is critical to ensure the building’s safety.

■ (Adnan, et al., 2012) associated low government’s commitment to maintenance management barrier, low
funding and logistics to poor maintenance management practices.

■ In light of the above, discounting the importance of maintenance management in project management has
fatal consequences for lives and property. Hence the need for further studies in this subject matter.
 Problem Statement
■ maintenance of existing facilities in Ghana such as historical buildings, government offices and social
amenities is discouraging (Nkrumah, et al., 2017).

■ This confirms the findings of (Cobbinah, 2010) indicating that 80% of public buildings in Ghana
lacked maintenance.

■ (Addo, 2017) blames lack of desire to protect public property-owning from the precolonial attitude of
sabotaging the colonial masters. (Cobbinah, 2010) opines that limited availability of skilled
maintenance management staff in Ghana accounts for the poor maintenance management practices

■ In Ghana, Egan (2014) investigated maintenance management of senior high school infrastructure in
Kumasi and Cape Coast. Other studies were conducted by Issahaku , 2013; Cobbinah, 2010.

■ Therefore, the limited research on this subject matter in Ghana, coupled with the scope of previous
studies has created a gap which necessitates being filled. This study seeks to fill the research gap
created by Assessing the Impact of Effective Maintenance Management Practices on Project
Sustainability in Ghana
 Research Objectives

■ Generally, the study aims to assess the effectiveness of maintenance management

practices in the Ga West Municipal Assembly. Specifically, the study seeks to

■ 1. To identify the current maintenance practices of the assemblies

■ 2. To assess the project maintenance success rate
■ 3. To Identify the challenges affecting effective maintenance management
 Justification of the Study

■ Firstly, this study would contribute to existing knowledge on maintenance management

practices by serving as empirical evidence adding to existing literature in Ghana and
globally.

■ Also, the study contributes to good maintenance management practices of state-owned

facilities in Ghana by identifying factors affecting the maintenance practices of some
buildings and recommend corrective actions

■ Again, the study would create awareness on the importance of maintenance management
and its impact on the lifespan of public buildings and, health and safety of its users.
 Research Methodology

■ The study will adopt the descriptive research design using the survey which will employ both
qualitative and quantitative approaches.
■ Staff of the development planning, works, budgeting, finance and central administration.
constitute the target population of the study. The population of the study was 60.
■ Simple Random sampling and the purposive sampling was used to select the sample for the
study. A sample size of 30 was selected for the study.
■ The research approach would basically be analytical drawing information from primary and
secondary sources.
■ Questionnaires were administered to the sample population and responses analysed, and
presented in graphs, tables and charts.
 Findings: Nature of Maintenance at the Assembly

90%
■ The diagram shows that cleaning
80% 79%
80% appears to be the most preponderant
70%
70%
68% as this was selected by 80% of
65%
respondents.
60%
55%

50%
■ Repair work is also a quite common
maintenance practice at the assembly
40%
as it was indicated by 79% of
30% respondents.
20% ■ Other equally widely acknowledged
10% maintenance practices undertaken at
the assembly include servicing, fault
0%
Cleaning Repairs Replacement Fumigation Servicing Fault
Rectification
rectification, fumigation and
Maintenance practices
replacement.
 Maintenance Practices of The Assembly
Maintenance Practice SA A NA/DA D SD
■ Most respondents (75%) strongly agree
50% 30% 20% 0 0
that maintenance practices at the
Regular check up to prevent
assembly can best be described as
breakdown corrective maintenance to address
20% 20% 24% 36% 0
existing problems
Predictive/condition based
maintenance ■ Also, 50% of respondents indicated
that maintenance works at the
Corrective maintenance to address 75% 25% 0 0 0 assembly may be described as ‘regular
existing problems check-up to prevent breakdown’, 30%
of respondents agree and 20% neither
Emergency repair to quell eminent 22% 68% 0 10 0 agree nor disagree.
danger
■ Therefore, The maintenance practices
On-going improvement to avoid periodic 10% 20% 0 70% 0
of the Assembly can also be described
maintenance
as depictive of quality management but
not quiet.
 Assessing Maintenance Needs of the Assembly

■ It was observed from fig. 4.5 that Ga West

Municipal Assembly predominantly undertake
maintenance audits of facilities as indicated by
0% (40%) of respondents.
27%
33%
■ Also, 33% of respondents attributed the
maintenance needs of the assembly to project
monitoring activities undertaken by the
assembly.
■ Finally, 27% of the assembly’s maintenance
40%
needs are determined by citizenry complaints.
■ It was noted that, in most cases, the periodic
maintenance audit triggered by citizenry
complaints.
Monitoring of projects Maintenance Audits citizenry Complaints Danger Alert
 Project Maintenance Success Rate

700,000.00 70% ■ Averagely, the spent 50% of the 2015-

64% 2018 cumulative budget for operations and
600,000.00 60% maintenance.
500,000.00 51% 50% ■ Specifically, the assembly’s maintenance
48%
expenditure in 2015 was 48% of budget
400,000.00 39% 40% estimates.
■ The ratio increased to 64% in 2016. The
300,000.00 30%
assembly in 2017 and 2018 spent 51% and
39% of operations and maintenance
200,000.00 20%
budget respectively.
100,000.00 10% ■ This implies that Ga West municipal
assembly generally underperformed in
0.00 0% project maintenance for the period under
2015 2016 2017 2018
review.
Budget Actual Variance
Challenges Affecting Effective Maintenance Management

■ Insufficient time for implementation

■ Ineffective Mobilization Strategy

■ Maintenance department is not well equipped

■ Limited budget for maintenance

■ Management is not committed to maintenance practices

 Summary of Findings

■ In summary, the study found that Ga West Municipal assembly undertakes maintenance projects.
The assembly undertakes these projects to protect and prolong the life span of projects and
infrastructure to the benefit of citizens. The assembly’s maintenance project is mostly periodic in
nature.
■ The assembly’s financial performance from 2015-2018 averaged 50%. Also, the physical
execution score was below 50%. This implies that the assembly performed discreditably with
respect to maintenance.
■ There is also the problem of over-centralisation of maintenance decisions. channels through
which decisions taken, are in most cases, too long resulting. Also, Inadequate funds and delays in
the release of funds have contributed significantly to the present state of public buildings.
Recommendations

■ The study recommends statutorily earmarking 25% of the assembly’s annual revenue
purposely for maintenance projects. Specifically, the legislation should allocate 10% internal
generated funds and 15% common fund allocations, with serious sanction regime for
noncompliance.

■ the first place the predictive and preventive maintenance practices identified should be
intensified by managers of the assembly to improve the quality of infrastructure..

■ the study recommends the prioritization of maintenance projects over the execution of new
projects by the assembly. The study recommends a reward-based system to motivate
assemblies who prioritize maintenance projects.
■Thank You