Experts, stakeholders make case for concrete roads

There are growing calls by stakeholders for adoption of concrete option in our road construction in view of alarming rate at which asphalt roads fail in the country. Adebayo Obajemu explores the gains concrete roads offer. 

The deplorable state of Nigerian roads is often partly attributed by experts to the alarming rate of road accidents. Only recently, a World Health Organisation(WHO) report says Nigerian roads are about the most dangerous in Africa, and accounts for road accidents fatalities at 33.7 percent per 100,000 population yearly.

The report entitled: “Road Safety in the WHO African Region “, gave a scary picture. According to it, more than one in four traffic accidents  deaths in Africa ,occurs in Nigeria, adding that the country’s road is the third leading  cause of deaths.

Many stakeholders and experts are of the view that heavy dependence on road transport to the detriment of other modes of transport is partly responsible for failure of our asphalted roads.
Some have advanced the view that asphalt roads are less durable than concrete roads More importantly, experts say the use of asphalt roads, which are  less durable than concrete roads, contributes to  the ease with which our roads get into bad weather and atrophy.

As a result of this, not a few professionals and stakeholders in the built environment are calling for a shift, a change of paradigm in road construction and management.

Most of the experts that spoke said the durability of the concrete option is the reason for resonating calls for its adoption.

While asphalt roads are said to have a lifespan of ten years,  concrete roads, on the other hand, have a long service life of 40 years.
” The fact  is that in terms of durability, concrete roads are better and more environment – friendly, “, Engineer Sanusi Mohammed, CEO of Rods Engineering Ltd stated this recently in an interview .Aside their durability, concrete roads are more environmentally friendly compared to asphalt roads, he said.

Samuel Ilugbekhai, President of Nigeria Institution of Structural Engineers told Business Hallmark that it was high time the country adopted concrete for road construction. He said ” Concrete roads do not require frequent repairs or patch works like asphalt roads.  It will interest you to note that recent advances in  concrete technology have drastically reduced the cost of concrete paving , even as it has improved performance.”

Another engineer, Aduragbemi Seni,  told this newspaper that ” the average lifespan of concrete pavements is  between 27.5  and 40 years before repair, in contrast to asphalt pavements which have a life span  ranging between ten to  15.5 years before any major  repair

Seni stated that concrete interstate pavements are cheaper, and may cost 13-28 per cent less than asphalt interstate pavements. ” One of the big advantage of concrete is that maintenance cost is reduced by 75 percent when concrete is used to pave roads , contrasted to 98 percent if asphalt is used.”

He continued, ” vehicles consume less fuel on concrete roads. Research has shown that when vehicles run over a concrete road,  they consume 15-20 per cent less fuel than that on asphalt road.” This, according to him,  is because a concrete road does not get deflected under the wheels of loaded trucks. Unlike asphalt roads, concrete roads do not get damaged by the leaking oils from the vehicles or by the extreme weather conditions like excess rain or extreme heat.

Mr. Kolawole Obatomi a Structural Engineer  said  concrete pavements  are not new, and have been in use all along but that the  the time had come when government should adopt it permanently for road construction in place of bitumen. He advised government to take it serious now that we produce abundant cement.

Governor Ikpeazu of Abia State has taken the lead by moving from rhetorics around adoption of concrete to action. The state government has successfully completed a road using cement technology, which is also known as rigid pavement technology in road construction.

The state, which is experimenting with this technology in road construction on three roads, has completed the 400 metres ENUC Road, off Udeagbala in Aba State.

Recently, Chairman of Dangote Cement, Aliko Dangote called on  the Federal Government to give consideration to adoption of  concrete roads in the country.

He, said, it would be to the advantage of
Nigerians and  government to embrace the option of using concrete for roads in the country, stating that the option is cheap and more durable and that its maintenance cost is near zero.

He said: “We are pushing for Nigeria to do a concrete road. It is cheaper to do a concrete road that will last 50 years than to do a bitumen road. It will also help in eliminating corruption because if you go and build a bitumen road, it will have to be adequately maintained unlike a concrete road that is very durable.”

Henry Onaikhai of the Federal Ministry of Works told this newspaper  that ” concrete  is the future of our roads, as it is less costly and more durable. “