On concrete pavements, road infrastructure deficit, challenges ahead

Since the assumption of office by the Minister of Works David Nweze Umahi, an engineer, the road construction industry has been abuzz with expectations of what is to come. The expectations are not unconnected with the unparalleled level of infrastructure development witnessed in his eight-year tenure as the governor of Ebonyi State and the enthusiasm with which he has embraced his new role as minister.

His enthusiasm to get things done and done properly may have informed his highway inspection tours across the states. A step in the right direction of the Minister as the tours would have provided you with a firsthand knowledge of the dire conditions of the state of our road infrastructure. A sector of Nigerians in the road space myself inclusive have watched and followed the tours albeit remotely with a view to finding out what the minister’s stake will be on the level of decay in the sector and how he intends to bridge the huge road infrastructure deficit; deficit driven by incessant premature failures despite the unending huge budgetary provisions that run into trillions, inflated contracts, never-ending contract scope creep, the associated variations, and consequent financial losses.

Since the completion of the tours, his observations on the dearth of Nigerian road infrastructure may have informed his immediate actions and pronouncements in respect of contract scope creep and associated variations and more importantly the proposed shift from flexible (asphalt surfaced) to rigid (concrete) pavements. It is not in doubt that he may have leveraged on his experiences in Ebonyi State for the push for concrete (rigid) pavements.

Since your pronouncements on a potential shift from flexible to concrete roads, the discussions that trailed the Lokoja – Obajana – Kabba – Ilorin Road when concrete pavement was first proposed has been re-ignited. It is no doubt that the level and rate of collapse of our roads may have informed such push. It is obviously a good call to want to look at the possibility of a shift from the status quo (asphalt roads) with a view to mitigating serious failure challenges facing the Nigerian road asset. With monies running into trillions of Naira spent in the road sector, yet several sections of Nigerian ‘Highways’ are in dire straits.

The footages from the minister’s tours makes one wonder which of the national highways is performing well. Some of the highways are only a figment of the true meaning of the word highway. Some of the highways have long been abandoned because they have been either overgrown by weeds or they have become littered with mosquito breeding ponds in the wet season or dust chambers in the dry season causing irrecoverable health hazards to the communities where they were once road corridors.

Some of the highways have become borehole fields rather than potholes if I may paraphrase the minister. The rate at which our roads fail is unbelievable. A classic example is the several failed sections of the re-constructed old Enugu – Onitsha Road which failed just under three years after reconstruction. The reconstruction was meant to complement the abandoned Enugu – Onitsha Expressway but it never lasted two decent cycles of rainy season. At the rate of the documented failures and as showcased by the minister’s tours, this is nothing but a crisis.

With your zeal, the question on everyone’s mind is, can you re-invent the magic you left in your home State? Can federal roads witness sustained, long-term performance which has been at the core of a myriad of factors driving Nigeria’s road infrastructure deficit.

To tackle significant underperformance driving the huge deficit concerns in the road sector, we must use a different cookbook from what is currently being used. It is on this background that it is imperative that we must firstly articulate the issues and then find answers to the issues driving the never-ending causes of premature failures of our road assets. Should we succeed in finding the answers, this may throw a light on whether the push for a shift from flexible to rigid pavement alternative would be a panacea to the failure crisis and therefore has merit.

Before casting my dragnet in search of answers, I deem it worthy to express my sincere thanks to the minister for the path so far taken in steering his ministry within the short time he mounted the saddle. First, for the understanding and enthusiasm shown in identifying the likely causes of the unending crisis in the road infrastructure space and making pronouncements on potential alternative solutions.

It is humbling and gut wrenching to witness roads fail woefully just few years after construction despite gulping funds that run into millions. Secondly, for seeing the problems and calling them by their names and shifting blames appropriately where they rightly belong rather than play the chameleon or hide under political correctness at the expense of haemorrhaging road sector.

The Directors and their staff in the Ministry and the contractors, home grown, or expatriates have not been left out in the minister’s search for answers. Thirdly, but by no means the last, the minister’s stand on contract scope creep and associated variations in prices.

How can a contract initially awarded at N10 billion end up at N100 billion and yet nothing tangible can be shown for the huge expense, but rather abandoned contracts. I will prefer to stay away from discussions on these matters as they are mostly outside my sphere of competency and the scope of this write up.

These issues, however, do point to the fact that there are minefields on the path of running the Nigerian road sector. Sir, I can only wish you luck as you sojourn in your very demanding portfolio.

The first cab off the rank among the issues that may have been driving the under performance of the Nigerian road assets would be what Duro Onabule in his article on “Before Buhari’s budget on roads” published in the Sun Newspapers of September 2015, referred to as lack of sincerity in the preparation and execution of the road budgets.

Duro stated that if only ten per cent of the sincerity with which the budgets were prepared existed and translated to implementation, that Nigeria would have been better off in terms of overall development.
To be continued tomorrow
Dr. Ezeajughi, Civil Engineer, Geotechnical Engineering Consultant and COREN registered, contributed this from his Brisbane, Australia office.