U.S.-based expert canvasses alternative technology for roads

A United States-based transportation engineer, Mazi Ogbonna and an indigene of Abia State has urged Nigeria, especially his home state, to adopt the Rapid Enzymatic System Technology (REST) for construction of roads.

Ogbonna, who retired from the New York (USA) Department of Transportation, gave the charge in a telephone interview with The Guardian, adding that during his 28-year service in the USA, he was involved in transportation engineering.

He explained that transportation engineering is a sub-division of civil engineering that involves the application of technology and scientific principles for the planning, functional design, operation and management of facilities for any mode of transportation.

He said the process provide safe, rapid, comfortable, convenient, economical and environmentally compatible movement of people and goods, as well as efficient traffic management.

Ogbonna described the REST as “a concentrated enzyme formulation that alters the properties of earth materials to produce superior road-base stabilisation” compared to other treatment methods available today.

He told The Guardian that he had recommended REST to an agency of the Federal Government of Nigeria several years ago, but got no response even as he offered to demonstrate REST in Nigeria 

“The use of cement for road construction is expensive and does not conveniently bond properly with the traditional bonding materials like coal tar.

“I have the Ezymatic Compound to build roads and close ponds using appropriate soil. The cement technology or Rigid Pavement Technology (RPT) reportedly being used for road construction in Abia State is far more expensive than REST.

“We use REST to harden the soil and make the road more durable, motorable, faster and cheaper to build.

“If I am commissioned, within 72 hours, all the streets we work on will wear new looks for a long time. If we do it in Abia State, everybody will get interested and the youths will be happy, because many of them will be employed,” he said.

Ogbonna, who is also the Founder and Director of the US-based Mother Tongue Academy, an online academy that teaches Nigerian languages, said it had been determined that the lowest common denominator of the success of the USA and other developed countries, remains their commitment to first build a complete road infrastructure.

He said the extant traditional method of building roads in Nigeria had become obsolete compared with REST, which he described as a more modern system based on Nature-Enzymes that reduces cost by over 40 per cent.

“My compound comprises enzyme that bonds with the soil type of any environment to be made motorable. If the soil is tested and is unsuitable, it will be replaced with a suitable soil from elsewhere. More so, as natural soil is readily available,” he said.

He listed other advantages of REST over other methods used in road construction, adding: REST cures or dries faster within 72 hours, costs 40 per cent less than traditional methods. It is easier to maintain at lowest maintenance cost, more durable and environmentally safer than traditional methods.” 

He stressed his readiness to physically demonstrate the REST, whenever he is invited to do so.