The other side of Umahi’s concrete roads, By Gideon Sylvester

The federal government’s recent decision to finally dump asphalt for concrete pavement in the construction of roads has startled everyone concerned with the affairs of a country grappling with a multitude of pushy economic challenges. The Minister of Works, David Umahi, described the decision as one of the numerous measures taken by the Tinubu administration to reduce bitumen importation and ease unnecessary pressure on foreign exchange in the road construction sector of the country’s economy.

The government subsequently announced that any road construction contract across the country below 20 per cent completion stage would be redesigned to concrete pavement roads. The government directed the contractors handling ng such highway projects to meet with engineers of the Federal Ministry of Works to redesign all the ongoing Federal Government Road projects in line with the requirements of concrete technology.

Accordingly, several ongoing highway construction projects have to be suspended. They include Benin-Warri dual carriageway and Benin-Sapele sections 1-3 in Delta State, Maraba-Keffi road expansion in Nasarawa State, and Minna-Zungeru-Tegina-Kontagora Road in Niger State.

They also include Zaria-Funtua-Sokoto-Sheme road in Kaduna State and some parts in Gusau in Zamfara State, Mubi-Maiduguri and Bama-Konduga-Maiduguri Road in Adamawa and Borno states. Major construction companies working on ongoing highway projects to be affected by the decision include China Harbour Engineering Company, Gilmour Engineering Nigeria Limited, CBC Global Civil & Building Construction, Setraco Nigeria Limited, Decency Associates Limited, and Zephrygold International Limited.

Also, to be affected are Levant Construction Company Limited, Geld Construction Company Limited, Triata Nigeria Limited, SKECC Nigeria Limited. The decision to switch from asphalt to concrete pavement was preluded by the construction of the 32-kilometre Apapa-Oshodi-Oworonshoki-Ojota expressway in Lagos State, at the cost of N73 billion in 2018; the 26-kilometre Itori-Ibese and the 43-kilomtre Obajana-Kabba roads, both in Kogi State. All these contracts were handled by Dangote Group.

In its efforts at convincing the Nigerian public to accept and identify with the decision, the apex government argued that apart from the reduction in the importation of bitumen aimed at easing unnecessary pressure on foreign exchange experienced in the bitumen importation process, concrete-paved roads last 50 years with a very minimal maintenance, protect tyres and saves fuel for motorists, while asphalt roads last only 15 years with cost-intensive maintenance. Also, while asphalt roads require the importation of some of its materials, all materials needed for concrete-paved roads are locally sourced.

“We are going to be building concrete roads in the country so that anytime we build a road, we do not have to go back to repair after the third raining season but move on and use the resources to address other pressing needs of Nigeria,” the Chairman of the Dangote Group, Aliko Dangote, was reported to have said at the opening of the Obajana-Kabba concrete road.

The asphalt-to-concrete switch, however, has numerous frightening disadvantages that could be injurious to the country’s economy in its current state and the government’s efforts at reviving and prospering it, than any degree of good it is aimed at having on the economy.

Contractors handling the road projects directed for redesigning see the abrupt decision as a breach of contracts capable of leading to monumental losses on the part of the government with regard to the funds already wasted.

They complained that they have invested several millions of US Dollars in asphalt technology equipment and also imported bitumen and other raw materials costing billions of naira. The switch, they remark, would cost them millions of US Dollars in losses. These are all apart from the monumental amount funds now wasted in the mobilization of construction of workers and equipment to site and the stages of work executed so far.

At a time when the government should be deploying a multi-pronged approach to resuscitating the economy to renew the hope of Nigerians in the all-round prosperity of their country, it is committing what seems a blunder by throwing indigenous construction companies out of business in the name of saving Forex from undue pressure.

In a situation where one company can practically not handle all the contracts, would the government shop for foreign road construction firms to handle the surplus? This would imply the draining of an enormous amount of the country’s dwindling funds abroad through the foreign firms as conduit.

Cement and concrete, the main requirements for the construction of concrete roads, are both locally sourced.

How much cement does the existing cement companies now produce, and have the capacity to produce to guarantee sufficiency for concrete roads construction and the construction of other vital projects critical for the economy? How guaranteed is the country on the development of the capacity of the two indigenous conglomerates to produce for this sufficiency in the foreseeable future?

Considering the fact that construction of roads with cement would require manifold of the cement consumed by all other projects in the broader construction sector of the economy, would all other vital construction projects so critical, or equally, or even more, critical for the country’s economy be suspended until the constructions of some federal highways are completed?

As an attendant effect of the asphalt-to-concrete switch, could shoot up at a supersonic speed in a country where the government professes renewing the hope and faith of common Nigerians in affordable standard of living. Most sections of the country are littered with, mainly individual, housing accommodation projects due mainly to the unaffordable cost of cement.

Let us not lose sight of the rising housing deficit in the country due mainly to the high cost of cement and other building materials. Based on its Renewed Hope Agenda, the government should review its stand on the switch from asphalt to concrete roads.