In 2014, Nigeria was estimated to have lost N300 billion to bitumen importation. Now, with biting foreign exchange scarcity, dwindling revenue and prevailing economic recession, experts have called for the use of concrete to build roads rather than bitumen, MUYIWA LUCAS reports.
The figures and presentations were quite revealing. Turn by turn, officials of cement manufacturer, Lafarge Africa, took time to make presentations to members of the House of Representatives Committee on Roads. The presentation, which held earlier in the year, was led by Larfage Africa Technical Services Engineer, Bukola Adebisi, who painted a sorry state of the asphalt roads and the drain it constituted on government revenue.
“Flexible pavement in the form of asphalt paved road makes up more than 99.9 per cent of all paved roads in Nigeria today. With the massive investment in the cost of maintenance, repair and reconstruction of these road a shift to a more sustainable alternative is inevitable,” Adebisi noted.
In 2015, the budget for the Federal Ministry of Works was N100 billion, but a meagre N11 billion was approved for the ministry, which represented 11 per cent of the budget. The then Minster of Works, Mike Onolememen, said Nigeria needed a yearly investment of minimum of N600 billion to meet the Vision 20:2020 targets for roads and road infrastructural development, and to increase the paved road from 65,000km to 200,000km by 2020. This cost was exclusive of the maintenance cost for existing and the planned road construction, because in the same period (2015), there was zero allocation to the Federal Emergency Road Management Authority (FERMA).
The upward and downward movements in global oil prices in the last one decade has also made the cost of bitumen, which is the binder in asphalt, rise considerably, thereby pushing the cost boundary between rigid and flexible pavement ever closer.
Compounding this problem was the oil refining challenges Nigeria has been experiencing over the last one decade, the deficit of which import has been used to shore-up.
Since the backward integration policy of the Olusegun Obasanjo administration in 2002, the cement industry has witnessed tremendous growth in installed capacity, production, consumption and export.
For instance, the growth in the cement industry in the last one decade has seen the installed capacity move up to 4.025millin metric tons (MMT) and with the second production line of Lafarge Africa Plc at Mfamosing in Cross River State, coming on-stream last August, the total national installed capacity has increased to 4.275MMT.
This development, experts contended, was enough reason the country should consider the cement alternative in road construction. Their argument was that with a massive cement production capacity locally, the comparative cost advantage factor will eventually set in, thus making it economical over asphalt road.
Currently, the average cost of paving a metre square of road at 50mm for asphalt is put at N5, 493. 07 compared with a 150-mm thick concrete, which is said to be at three per cent differential.
To drive home this point, Lafarge Africa Plc is involved in the construction of two roads at Cross River and Gombe states. The construction of a 20-kilometre (km) road linking the Oban road (Calabar-Cameroon link road) at Mfamosing to Odukpani on Katsina Ala road (Calabar – Katsina Ala). The first portion of the road which is 10km, has been paved with concrete as part of what will eventually be the Phase I of rigid pavement construction. This will see the remaining 10km being paved with concrete subsequently in the Phase II of the project. Also, the firm commenced the construction of an eight kilometre Maiganga concrete pavement road in Gombe State.
“We are not only advocating the usage of concrete in the construction of pavement for roads, but adopting the same because of the sustainability and much lower maintenance,” Adebisi said.
He added that rigid pavement is no longer an alternative, but the way to go in sustainable road development, that will see real values in terms of increase in the volume of paved road with less need for huge annual budgetary allocation for road maintenance cost.
During a tour of the project, the Project Manager, United Cement Company Limited (UNICEM), Mark Aibangbee, said the choice of the concrete was to showcase that it has a better advantage and more durable and cost effective on the long run than asphalt road.
According to him, the huge foreign exchange required, and its scarcity, makes it unrealistic and economically suicidal to continue with road pavement construction. For Aibangbee, if the use of concrete in road construction is widely embraced, it will lead to further development in the local cement industry and in turn boost the economy.
Adebisi said Nigeria has to take a cue from other developed countries that have succeeded in road construction process. “About 60 per cent of the United States interstate road system was concrete, according to the United State Federal Highway Administration (FHWA). This is due to the anticipation of heavy traffic load, which concrete is better at withstanding. Because of its rigid nature, it can withstand heavy loading without noticeable deformation unlike asphalt which with continuous deformation ends up with ruts and eventually pot holes that requires constant maintenance.”
Adebisi listed the advantages of concrete roads to include longer life with less need for maintenance and repair.
Concrete was not susceptible to deformation with daily temperature cycle variation which leads to rut under heavy vehicular loading, thereby making it port-hole proof, hence needs minimal maintenance over the pavement life cycle which is three time that of comparable flexible pavement.
Costs less for road users also: Concrete roads provide a better rolling resistance for heavy trucks due to non-deflection under loading because of the pavement rigidity thereby reducing energy consumption by as much as 20 per cent. Better long time performance also means fewer interruption and lower cost.
Resistant to oil and lubricant damage: Unlike flexible pavement that is susceptible to structural bond damage due to oil and lubricant which, always results into scaling and eventually pot holes, concrete pavement is resistant to oil and lubricant damages and a host of other chemicals that might easily cause extensive damages to flexible pavement.
Reflects more light: In comparison with asphalt, the light reflective index of concrete is far higher with increases in the reach of vehicular headlamp in distance covered, and better surrounding visual awareness, this resulted in reducing cost and accident as a result of visual impairment occasioned by poor lighting;
Recyclable and 100 per cent re-usable: Concrete is the most recycled construction material in the world, according to the Construction Materials Recycling Association. Concrete is 100 per cent recyclable and reusable, and can be used as aggregate in new concrete pavements, base materials for new roadways, or for other uses, including erosion control and flood prevention;
100 per cent local supplies: Concrete pavements are typically produced from abundant supplies of locally available resources, such as rock, sand, cement, and water. Modern concrete also incorporates waste materials, such as slag, which comes from iron manufacturing, and fly ash, a byproduct of energy production.
In a 99-year comparative cost life cycle cost analysis done by the American Concrete Pavement Association (ACPA), despite a 15 per cent difference in initial investment on concrete pavement in comparison with asphalted road. By the end of ninety years analysis the cost differential is over 230 per cent more for the asphalted pavement.
Indeed, several other stakeholders have called for the full adoption of this option for road construction. For instance, President of the Nigeria Institution of Estate Surveyors and Valuers (NIESV), Patunola Ajayi, said statistics based on recent studies reveal that Nigeria was losing about N80 billion yearly due to the deplorable condition of roads across the country.
He regretted that all roads that connect the country’s major cities were bad and deteriorating daily. The seaport and commercial centres to interland, he said, were in bad condition due to neglect.
“Those still existing are in terrible shape of disrepair and when efforts are made to repair them, substandard materials are used and after three months roads return to their appalling shape without anybody raising an eyebrow,” he said.
Dangote Cement Chairman, Aliko Dangote, also agreed with the concrete alternative, admonishing the Federal Government to urgently consider the use of concrete roads in the country.
“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. Aside from being very cheap, concrete roads are more durable and maintenance cost is near zero,” he advised.