Impacts of COVID-19 on the Middle East construction industry

The impacts of COVID-19 pandemic on construction project management are not documented and not well understood, which leaves project stakeholders with no guiding information to respond to such threats and no lessons learned to speed up the recovery of the industry in the wake of the pandemic. Although researchers have studied the impacts of pandemics in other industries in various settings, there is little-to-no research specific to the construction industry and especially in the Middle East region. To address this knowledge gap, 202 construction professionals in the Middle East region were surveyed using a questionnaire survey to provide their perceptions of COVID-19 pandemic impact on project finance, construction materials and equipment, labor, contracts, and rental properties. Statistical analysis of the collected data reveals that labor and contracts are the principal classes impacted due to the complex procedures of hiring labor from East Asia, the tightening of health and safety precautionary measures on construction sites, and the expected contract revisions to Force Majeure, Change, and Claim clauses to address pandemic issues. The respondents indicated that many tasks can be safely accomplished by remote work. They also indicated that pandemic-related slowdown can be detrimental to the construction industry; governments need to inject stimulus funding to help keep construction activity momentum; and prolonged COVID-19 pandemic impact would be harsher than oil price collapse. As such, this study contributes to the body of knowledge in construction management by studying the impacts of COVID-19 pandemic and providing construction industry stakeholders with lessons learned and recommendations to response strategies that can alleviate pandemic risks.