Development pl'Ojects are the means by which development policies and plans are translated intornpractice and have a lion's share in improving livelihoods of the community. In less developed countriesrnwhere Ethiopia belongs to, project implementation and management is characterized by failures.rnProject implementation failure is explained as delivering a project late, delivering a project over budgetrnand delivering a project which does not meet scope requirements; however a successfully managedrnproject is the one that is completed at the specified level of quality; on or before the deadline; andrnwithin the planned budget. Additionally, client satisfaction indicates success and possibility ofrnreplication and sustainability.rnThe overall objective of this study is to examine whether the public sector projects are successfullyrnimplemented orfail; thereby to find out the major factors contributing to the failures; and propose somerneasing strategies to surmount the identified challenges for the future successful project execution in thernzonal level public sectors of Illu-Ababora Zone, Oromia Region. For this, a case study researchrnapproach which employs both qualitative and quantitative data collected ji'om various primary andrnsecondOlY sources was used. In identifYing respondents, pwposive sampling strategy was used. Datarncollection tools and techniques include questionnaire, key informant interview guide, focus grouprndiscussion guide, all used to gather primary data; and a format for consolidating information ji'omrnsecondOlY data. Quantitative data were processed using SPSS while the qualitative data were narratedrnqualitatively. In quantitative analysis, both descriptive statistics (like Mean, Mean difference,rnpercentages, and ji-equencies); and inferential statistics (like paired sample t-test, Pearson ProductrnMoment correlation and binOlY logistic regression) were applied.rnThe findings of the study ji'om the assessment of the three project parameters (cost, time and quality)rnindicated that most public sector projects undertaken by zone level public sectors are characterized byrnfailures. According to percentages of responses; all projects (100%) were delayed for longer time thanrnplanned schedule; 72.1% were completed with quality problems; and 69.8% required additional budgetrnfor completion. Similarly, ji'Oln 75 public projects implemented during the past five years (2007-2011),rn70(93.3%) were completed with some problems while 5(6. 7%) were totally failed (callceled). From thern70 completed projects, all of them (100%) were delayed for longer time than the planned schedule;rn41 (58.6%) projects required additional cost; and 40(57.1%) projects were completed with less qualityrnthan the predetermined levels. The major factors for these project failures are categorized into fourrnmajor areas: Organizational/institutional related factors; PhYSical, climatic and inji'astructure relatedrnfactors; Poor project-cycle management; and Contract administration, price and contractor relatedrnfactor. Moreover, among many, inaccessibility of the project sites due to lack of inji'astructurerndevelopment and poor project monitoring are found to be the two most infiuential factors.rnFor the fillure successfiil public project imp lementation and management in the zone, all of thernidentified challenges under the four major areas need proper treatment. Similarly, the two mostrnilifluential factors (development of rural roads and bridges for accessibility of sites; and improvedrnji'equencies of monitoring for early detection of problems and keep projects on course) seek particularrnemphasis.