A Critical Analysis of Selected Maintenance Management Activities in Gravel Roads Projects in Tanzania

Abstract

Effective maintenance management is essential for gravel roads maintenance  projects  in Tanzania. However, many face challenges that compromise their economic viability, such as inadequate monitoring, poor assessment of needs, and failure to meet performance expectations, often lowering user satisfaction. To address these issues, this study identifies and evaluates key maintenance and management activities influencing project performance using Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM). The analysis showed that integrity management (IM) strategy is the most influential phase (Path coefficient=0.465). Within this phase, IM5(engaging environmental and community needs) was most critical (outer loading = 0.980), followed by IM2 (maintaining proper inventory records) at 0.977. Cost considerations had the strongest effect on hard performance measures (path coefficient = 0.706), with C5 (adequate funding based on needs) highly influential (outer loading value of 0.882). For soft measures, the social and relational dimensions was dominant (path coefficient = 0.846) with R3 (user and stakeholders satisfaction) as the key indicator. Overall, the most impactful activities identified were IM5, RIC14 and RIC15(population served, access to economic centers), OM2(new management techniques), and RM1(material price fluctuations). These findings guide strategies for enhancing gravel roads maintenance outcomes in Tanzania and other regions facing similar challenges