International Development (ID) projects are mostly public sector development projects
and are particularly prepared for developing and emerging economies to improve their
socio-economic needs. Considering the importance of ID projects, this study looks at
public sector ID projects that are complex in nature. Through investigating archival data
of 100 completed projects of Asian Development Bank, the study empirically analyses
project cost and schedule performance and examines causes of deviations. Analysis shows
that most late projects experience cost underrun-an unusual cost and schedule variation
relation in projects. Further, the main cause of project delay is indentified as contract
and procurement delay due to host country government bureaucracy. Research outcome
will benefit ID project professionals in both developed and developing economies.