Impact of covid-19 on construction projects: challenges and opportunities

Abstract

Abstract After the onset of Covid-19, the economy and trade worldwide faced severe disruption, which simultaneously affected industries, businesses, construction companies, and households. All the sectors were hit the hardest by the economic crises caused due to Covid-19. Likewise, the construction sector was not spared by the crisis; in fact, it received the hardest blow. Due to the disruptions of trade, supply chains were disrupted, labor shortages, and Covid-19 protocols resulted in delays in projects, consequently causing the cost overrun. Hence, to analyse the situation of construction sector of Oman, this study surveyed professionals from the industry to understand the challenges and their impacts on the construction sector. Moreover, the study focused on the improvements that have been made so far since the vaccination drives gained pace in Oman. Because of Covid-19, almost 90% of the respondent’s delays in projects. However, 21% of the respondents reported that their companies were not able to claim relief entitlements, this is also proved by the similar amount of people reporting that the contracts implemented in Oman doesn’t protect the rights of all parties equally. The results also shown that labor shortage and cost overrun have the major impacts on the construction sector, followed by claims for relief entitlements in case of project delays.