An Assessment of Failed Government Projects in Low Resource Countries: A Systematic Review

Abstract

Government development projects are of colossal significance to the development of the citizenry and this is fundamental to national development. However, available published literature has revealed that, globally, the quantum of failures in government development projects is on the ascendancy in recent times, especially among low-resource countries. In sub-Saharan Africa, about 25% of government projects are not completed and over 19,000 abandoned government projects are found in some areas and a third of projects that were started in Ghana are never completed consuming almost 20% of gross domestic product. This study assesses failed government projects in low-resource countries. A systematic review using about 21 published articles was downloaded among forty-one others and filtered based on study title, contents, objectives, publication date, and ethical issues among others. The study found that among the reasons for these governments' failed projects are poor planning, poor management, implementation defects, cost variation, difficult stakeholders' behaviour, poor procurement processes, poor monitoring, bureaucracy, communication and many more. The study concluded that there are increases in the incidence of government-failed projects due to poor planning, poor management, poor selection of contractors and lack of specific funding of projects and these have negative implications for economic growth and development among low-resource countries. The study recommends that government should ascribe itself to some future realistic project goals, abide by project policy implementation directives, and ensure effective monitoring and efficient collaboration with stakeholders.