How Stephen Okyere Boansi’s academic research on Ghana’s project delays and cost overruns making headlines

In an industry where cost overruns, schedule delays, and operational failures are often treated as unavoidable, a quintessential Ghanaian citizen, Stephen Okyere Boansi represents a professional approach grounded in structured analysis and early decision-making.

Trained in construction management with a specialization in project controls, his work focuses on improving how complex construction projects are planned, evaluated, and delivered.
Rather than reacting to problems after they emerge, his practice emphasizes identifying risks, testing assumptions, and strengthening coordination before setbacks occur.
Boansi’s professional profile reflects a combination of academic research, technical judgment, and applied project experience.
He has authored peer-reviewed publications addressing management and engineering challenges in the built environment and has contributed as a reviewer for scholarly journals.
These roles place him among a smaller group of construction professionals who engage actively in both knowledge development and practical application.
His work reflects a commitment to evidence-based decision-making in a field where informal practices and short-term pressures often dominate.
While many construction professionals concentrate primarily on site execution, Boansi’s expertise lies in project controls.
This discipline focuses on understanding cost performance, schedule behavior, and risk exposure throughout a project’s lifecycle.
Project controls professionals support leadership teams by interpreting data trends, evaluating uncertainties, and providing defensible information for decision-making.
In complex environments where multiple stakeholders, technical systems, and regulatory demands intersect, this function plays a critical role in maintaining accountability and reliability.
Currently working as a Project Engineer with a focus on project controls at a U.S.-based construction firm, Boansi contributes to projects where early planning and coordination often determine long-term outcomes.
His role involves supporting budgeting, scheduling, risk assessment, and performance monitoring processes that require precision and consistency.
These responsibilities place him at the intersection of design intent, construction execution, and operational readiness.
Colleagues and independent professionals who have worked with him describe his approach as analytical and forward-looking. Engineers, surveyors, and construction managers note that his work extends beyond routine reporting.
Instead, it emphasizes the reliability of underlying assumptions and the downstream consequences of cost and schedule decisions.
In applied fields such as construction management, this level of judgment is often developed through experience and professional trust rather than visibility alone.
Boansi’s growing professional profile reflects his ability to connect structured analysis with real-world application. In construction, professional impact is not always measured by public prominence.
It is often reflected in reliability, trust in evaluating technical information, confidence in informing leadership decisions, and consistency in reducing risk. His work aligns with these practical measures of effectiveness.
As infrastructure demands increase and projects become more technically complex, professionals capable of bridging research insight with execution reality remain limited. Boansi’s work reflects this emerging approach, positioning him among a generation of construction specialists focused on improving decision quality rather than responding to failure after it occurs.
Research Perspective on Project Delays and Cost Overruns
Through both academic research and applied practice, Boansi has examined the recurring challenges that affect construction projects, particularly in developing and transitional economies.
In discussing project delays and rising costs in Ghana, he has emphasized that many projects advance without a full understanding of their early-stage risks.
According to his research, decisions are often made based on assumptions that are not adequately tested during planning and design. Technical systems, regulatory requirements, and coordination challenges are sometimes addressed only after construction has begun.
When problems surface at later stages, they become more expensive and disruptive to resolve. His work highlights that effective project controls help identify these risks earlier, reducing the likelihood of major schedule and budget disruptions.
This perspective aligns with international research on project performance, which consistently shows that early uncertainty management is a primary determinant of long-term success. Boansi’s contribution lies in translating these findings into practical methods that can be applied within real project environments.
Defining Project Controls in Practical Terms
In explaining project controls, Boansi emphasizes that the discipline extends beyond basic cost tracking or time reporting. Rather than focusing only on how much money has been spent or how many weeks have passed, project controls examine underlying risk drivers and system readiness.
From his perspective, effective project controls involve asking forward-looking questions:
• What could go wrong?
• Which systems are most critical to performance?
• What needs to be verified now to avoid future failures?
This approach shifts project management from reactive problem-solving to proactive risk management. It encourages teams to treat uncertainty as a measurable factor rather than an unavoidable inconvenience.
By integrating technical data, schedule logic, and risk assessments, project controls provide leadership with clearer visibility into project health. This enables informed decisions that balance speed, quality, and long-term reliability.
Research Focus on Risk and System Readiness
A central theme in Boansi’s research is the concept of planning around risk and readiness rather than speed alone. His studies examine how different building systems contribute unevenly to project risk.
Power supply, ventilation, water quality, fire protection, and safety systems, for example, tend to generate the most severe consequences when they fail. These systems require early coordination, detailed testing, and clear accountability. When they are treated as secondary concerns, projects often experience operational failures, rework, and regulatory delays.
Boansi’s work proposes that high-risk systems should be identified and prioritized during early design and planning phases. This allows teams to focus resources on areas that most directly affect safety, functionality, and user satisfaction.
The approach encourages clearer documentation, earlier inspections, and stronger collaboration between designers, contractors, and regulators.
Application to Ghana’s Construction Environment
In the Ghanaian construction context, Boansi’s research identifies late decision-making as a recurring challenge.
Key technical and contractual issues are sometimes left unresolved until construction is well underway. This creates conditions for redesign, disputes, and cost escalation.
He argues that clearly defining and stabilizing high-risk systems earlier in the project lifecycle can significantly reduce uncertainty.
When major technical decisions are resolved in advance, teams face fewer surprises during construction. This reduces rework, improves coordination, and strengthens budget reliability.
Such an approach also improves relationships among project participants. Clear early agreements reduce conflicts between contractors, consultants, and clients, contributing to more stable project environments.
Prefabrication and Controlled Construction Processes
Boansi’s work also explores the role of prefabrication and off-site preparation in improving project performance.
He emphasizes that prefabrication does not require complete factory-built structures. Instead, it involves identifying repeatable or standardized elements and assembling them in controlled conditions.
Examples include electrical panels, plumbing modules, mechanical assemblies, and façade components.
Producing these elements in stable environments allows for better quality control, reduced material waste, and fewer on-site conflicts.
For Ghana, his research suggests that gradual adoption is most practical. Starting with partial prefabrication allows firms to build technical capacity without excessive capital investment.
Even limited implementation can improve workmanship and reduce construction variability.
Improving Handover and Operational Performance
Another recurring theme in Boansi’s work concerns building handover and post-construction performance. Many completed projects, he observes, struggle to function properly after occupancy. Systems may appear complete but remain untested or unreliable.
This problem arises when progress is measured primarily by visual completion rather than functional readiness. A building may look finished while essential systems remain unverified.
His research encourages teams to define progress based on operational capability. Systems should be considered complete only when they can be safely tested, commissioned, and used.
This approach improves handover quality and reduces early-stage operational failures.
Reframing Progress Reporting
Traditional construction reporting often relies on percentage-based progress indicators. Statements such as “80 percent complete” provide limited insight into actual project readiness.
Boansi advocates for performance reporting that focuses on system status and risk exposure. Instead of emphasizing overall completion, teams should examine:
• Which systems are ready for use
• Which systems still carry significant risk
• What issues must be resolved before occupancy
This reporting framework gives project owners and public agencies clearer information. It supports earlier intervention and more targeted problem-solving.
Implications for Public Agencies and Project Owners
From Boansi’s perspective, improving construction outcomes requires a shift in how projects are initiated and managed. He emphasizes the importance of early clarity in planning, coordination, and testing.
Investments made during early project stages—such as detailed design reviews, risk assessments, and coordination workshops—often generate far greater returns than late-stage corrective actions. Attempting to accelerate construction without adequate preparation tends to increase long-term costs.
His work reinforces the principle that sustainable speed comes from preventing failure rather than compressing timelines. Well-prepared projects progress more steadily and face fewer disruptive interruptions.
Conclusion
Stephen Okyere Boansi’s professional profile reflects a disciplined approach to construction project delivery grounded in research, technical judgment, and applied experience.
Through his work in project controls, academic publication, and industry practice, he contributes to improving how complex projects are planned, monitored, and delivered.
His emphasis on early risk identification, system readiness, and functional performance addresses long-standing challenges in both developed and emerging construction markets.
By linking analytical methods with practical execution, his work supports more reliable, transparent, and sustainable project outcomes.
As construction projects continue to grow in scale and complexity, professionals who can integrate research insight with operational realities remain essential.
Boansi’s work reflects this evolving professional model—one focused on strengthening decision quality, reducing uncertainty, and supporting long-term value in the built environment.
By John Antwi Boasiako
News Editor
OTEC FM
Kumasi