Minister of Works, Engr. David Umahi has disclosed that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu supports and is interested in concrete road technology, which is more durable and cost effective.
Umahi, according to a statement by the Director (Information) of the Press and Public Relations unit at the Ministry, Lere-Adams Blessing, disclosed this during a meeting with contractors handling projects in the North East geo-political zone.
He said, “I had recently met with contractors handling road dualization projects, and my position on the issue is to take one lane and complete it because of paucity of funds. But with the availability of money, they could start the second lane. We can manage with one lane instead of not having anything at all.”
Stating that the government has N14 trillion on-going projects for 18,000 km roads, the Minister frowned at situations where some contracts have been on-going for 20 years.
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He said, “We are introducing concrete road technology and some of you are not happy about it. Some are saying it is too expensive, but we have to try both and see which is better.
“In any case, any contractor with an on- going project that is not willing to cooperate with us for a redesign with concrete road technology with a 50-year period free of maintenance, we’ll demand for a performance bond. The situation and time when roads are built on asphalt and within two to three years the project is back to square one is gone.
“We don’t witness this kind of construction pattern in developed countries. We are going to respect Engineering Best Practices in Nigeria. We will build a road that is going to last.
“He (President Tinubu) has given teeth to bite and to bite Nigerians into good roads so that they can enjoy. This will be one of the greatest legacies of Mr. President and other legacies he is bringing so that the world will know we are not here for business but for an assignment,” he said.