A new report by the Proshare Nigeria Limited titled, “Roads- Concrete Vision, Asphalt Competition, Looking Ahead“, has urged the federal and sub-national governments in Nigeria to utilize materials that are durable for road construction. The challenge of road construction in Nigeria over the years has been poor durability, rather than inflated costs.
According to the report:
Concrete roads have an edge over asphalt-bitumen based road construction, noting that the problem with asphalt is that it does not withstand heavy traffic and intense tropical weather. Implications are that roads built with asphalt have proven to be fragile, causing governments at national and sub-national levels to have had to intermittently ‘patch’ roads annually.
In contrast, CONCRETE ROADS are more durable than asphalt and can last 25 to 30 years without the need for major reconstruction work or repair.
“Based on socio-economic cost-benefit analysis, concrete roads provide superior returns on social capital outlays in the medium- to long-term. Even though competing asphalt roads may also show positive net social present values, the longer the road is expected to last, the higher the net present value of concrete (rigid pavements) over asphalt (flexible pavements).”
Both concrete and asphalt are needed—but in different parts of the country and for different reasons. Therefore, governments in the country have been advised to construct roads with concrete that experience heavy traffic and deadweight tension. Roads with lighter traffic and lesser vehicular carriage [may] be constructed with asphalt technology, subject to proper substructure preparation.
Furthermore, it was advised that roads in the southern part of Nigeria that are exposed to heavy rainfall and constructed on marshy and waterlogged terrains should be built in concrete.
The implication is that “both asphalt and concrete roads will have their places in the scheme of things—as concrete roads would be the default option for national and state highways and within states that experience heavy annual rainfall. However, competing asphalt roads would do well in the northern part of the country with savannah plains and lesser annual rainfall than the south.”
Also, “the hot weather predominant in northern Nigeria would not likely compromise asphalt road integrity—asphalt road construction in places like Abuja, and the northern states of Kano and Kaduna have been durable.”
It is advocated that commercial competitiveness should be the guide in creating the road architecture that fits Nigeria’s socioeconomic aspirations since good roads are not an end but the means to the more important objective of facilitating efficient and effective transportation of goods and people. The greater the efficiency of transport distribution, the more competitive the economy becomes, therefore the better its chances of raising the living standards of its citizens.
“For example, Nigeria’s domestic food value chains rest on the quality of interstate road networks. The poorer the quality of roads, the higher the cost of transportation of farm gate produce to urban centers, and the more difficult it becomes for Nigeria to become an efficient and cost-effective supplier of agricultural produce to the African continent.”
“To thrive in a world of the African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA), Nigeria must find ways of improving the movement of goods and services within its borders and expanding value distribution to neighboring African states.”
Also, concrete is favored over asphalt roads due to the available capacity within the country to sustain the production of cement and distribute it to different parts of the country by manufacturers such as Dangote Cement, BUA Cement, and Lafarge Cement.
For AfCFTA, please click on the link above, or go to: https://au.int/en/cfta
For the article titled “Analysts Highlight Path for Durable Road Construction for Nigeria”, please go to: https://www.thisdaylive.com/index.php/2020/08/04/analysts-highlight-path-for-durable-road-construction-for-nigeria/
For the July 2019 ISCP article titled “Nigeria Road Construction: Concrete Roads: “Supported”, “Favored” & “Recommended” … Lead to “Calls for Investment”, please go to: https://www.concretepavements.org/2018/07/19/nigeria-road-construction-concrete-roads-supported-favored-recommended-lead-to-calls-for-investment/
Cover (asphalt) photo: Dike Onwuamaeze