Causes for Failure of Public Projects in Tanzania

In Tanzania a number of public projects is increasing from time to time. However, in some cases it becomes difficult to complete projects using the allocated budgets and within time schedules, hence projects failure. This research was carried out to investigate on the causes for failure of public projects with reference to Dege Beach housing project. Questionnaires with semi structured questions were used to collect data on project failure. A total of 50 questionnaires were collected from the stakeholders of the project. From the analysis, it was found that managerial, financial and socio-cultural were categories of the causes. Poor planning, corruption and political interference have been identified as major causes for public project failure in managerial, financial and socio-cultural categories respectively. The study recommends that NSSF management should make a prior investigation to facilitate proper planning of their future projects. In consideration with financial related causes; the law enforcement agencies especially the Prevention and Combating Corruption Bureau should be involved during critical phases of a project as a measure to minimize the chances of corruption. The study further recommends that the parliament should enact laws that would provide independence to technocrats executing public projects and therefore reduce political interference in project managerial decisions. Key words: public projects, project failure, poor planning, corruption, political interference