Key Performance Indicators for Construction Project Performance with Special Reference to Nepal: A Structured Narrative Review

2026-06-24T09:57:19+00:00

Construction project performance is commonly assessed through time, cost, and quality; however, these traditional indicators alone do not fully explain project success. Modern construction performance measurement also includes safety, productivity, client and user satisfaction, stakeholder coordination, risk management, and environmental performance. This paper reviews Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) for construction project performance with special reference to Nepal. A structured narrative review approach is used because Nepal-specific KPI literature is limited and scattered across direct KPI studies, construction performance studies, and local conference papers. The review classifies the literature into three groups: global KPI framework studies, direct Nepalese KPI studies, and Nepalese construction performance studies that support specific KPI dimensions. Recent empirical studies have begun to systematically assess the status of environmental performance in Nepal's construction sector, revealing that environmental criteria remain inconsistently applied, while contract management inefficiencies have been documented in a significant majority of rural road projects surveyed. The strongest Nepalese KPI evidence comes from health building construction and small hydropower projects, where quality and cost were ranked as the most important KPIs respectively, while systematic evidence documents severe project lags, including an average delay of 37 months and only 15% on-time completion. Supporting Nepalese studies show that time overrun, cost overrun, weak quality assurance, safety issues, labour competency problems, delayed payments, design changes, risk, and poor coordination are recurring performance concerns. Based on the synthesis, the paper proposes a flexible Nepal-specific KPI framework with three layers: core KPIs, supporting KPIs, and sector-specific KPIs. Core KPIs include time, cost, quality, safety, and client or user satisfaction. Supporting KPIs include productivity, stakeholder coordination, risk management, and environmental performance. Sector-specific KPIs should be adjusted according to project type, such as hydropower, municipal buildings, public buildings, roads, bridges, and Users Committee projects. The review concludes that an integrated KPI framework supported by both stakeholder perception and objective project data could improve construction performance measurement, comparison, and benchmarking in Nepal.

Journal of Advanced Research in Civil and Environmental Engineering

Key Performance Indicators for Construction Project Performance with Special Reference to Nepal: A Structured Narrative Review