•Works minister, Dave Umahi
The federal government may have to scale down its plan to adopt concrete technology in road infrastructure nationwide due to the high price of building materials and the prevailing macro and microeconomic climate.
Although a policy guide on concrete road construction has existed, it has not been massively deployed for roads owing to costs and the availability of funds, reports The Guardian.
Road construction nationwide has been mainly asphalt-based since independence, but the advent of concrete technology offered a new methodology for road development and durability.
Concrete road technology is usually the most expensive option initially. It can cost about two to three times as much as asphalt and about six times the cost of gravel, estimated at $5 to $10 per square foot.
Findings show that the initial cost of the one-kilometre length of the concrete road was as high as N59.18 million per kilometre, while that of the asphalt road was pegged at N49.76 million per kilometre. Asphalt pavement is less by about N9.41 million per kilometre.
However, that quotation on concrete has increased by 73 per cent due to inflation and the rising cost of construction materials.
Despite its gains of lasting longer and durability, there are worries that the country’s cement production capacity will not match demand. With at least 12 registered companies, Nigeria’s cement production capacity is about 58.9 million metric tonnes yearly.
Currently, the price of cement and iron rods, essential ingredients for concrete pavement, is skyrocketing.
A survey of the construction materials market indicates that a 50kg bag of cement sold for N5,000 a year ago when the policy was adopted has increased to between N8,000 to N9,500 country-wide. At the same time, a tonne of reinforcement about N500,000 is now N1,050,000. The cost of sand per 30 tonnes was over N60,000 in some locations, now N160,000.
The Bola Tinubu-led administration, on the assumption of office, adopted concrete technology as the way out of the recurring road maintenance budgets and directed all contractors handling federal highways nationwide to choose between asphalt pavements and concrete technology.
In fact, the Minister of Works, Dave Umahi, said that 70 per cent of federal highways are being designed on concrete to elongate their lifespan. However, the policy was criticised by major civil engineering contractors, who felt that the new guideline was ill-timed.
Still, the Minister of Works, David Umahi, said he would not succumb to the gang-up and blackmail from contractors and explained that he had the backing of President Tinubu on the use of concrete in reinforcement.
Umahi said that some contractors have keyed into the policy just as major cement producers have agreed to discount prices for such government road builders. He also highlighted the advantages of cement roads over asphalt/bitumen, including cheaper costs, just as he reiterated the need to encourage local cement production against the importation of bitumen.
To test-run the system, the federal government launched the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Road project in March 2024 with the first phase, which stretches 47.47 kilometres from Lagos. The contractor, Messrs HITECH Construction Company, is expected to complete the project, which will be worth N15 trillion in eight years.
The first sign that the choice for concrete road policy had run into troubled waters was when Umahi said the project would be reviewed from 10 to six lanes but at a lower cost, adding that the 700-kilometre coastal road will be constructed at N15 trillion at N4 billion per kilometre.
He explained that the project review became necessary because of variations in designs and interventions like evacuation of 10 metres depth of compressed refuse, backfilling at different phases, and diversion of the highway around the Lekki axis to salvage some structures.
Within 25 years, over N3.4 trillion has reportedly been spent on road construction. The sum of N301.8b was allocated for road construction in 2016, N347.5 billion in 2017, N159.5b in 2018, N262b in 2019, N315.5b in 2020 for works and housing, N241.86b in 2021, N280 billion for road infrastructure in 2022 and N356b for both works and housing out of which N321 billion was budgeted for capital projects in 2023, while N1.06 trillion was allocated for capital projects in its 2025 budget.
Despite the spending, debts for payments for road contracts are mounting. The present administration owes contractors about N14 trillion for 2,604 roads of 18,000 kilometres, which was inherited from the last administration. There are fears that the budget for road infrastructure may double. The ministry paid N4 trillion of the N14 trillion owed to contractors constructing various road projects nationwide.
It was gathered that asphalt roads last about 15 to 20 years on average, requiring more frequent maintenance replacement and are often not environment-friendly. In contrast, concrete road utilises cement as binding material, composed of lime, rods, silica, alumina, and gypsum, which are mixed with sand, aggregate and water.
Building and civil engineering firms handling major highway projects such as Julius Berger Nigeria Plc, CCECC Nigeria Limited, Dangote Cement Plc, HITECH construction company, TEC Engineering Company Nigeria Limited, China Harbour Engineering Company, Gilmour Engineering Nigeria Limited, CBC Global Civil & Building Construction, Setraco Nigeria Limited, Decency Associates Limited, and Zephrygold International Limited have invested heavily in asphalt technology.
Concrete roads come in different kinds depending on the load on them. It can be unreinforced, reinforced concrete, or continuously reinforced. Essentially, the type of load to be put on a road determines the type of concrete design specification to deploy.
Besides, concrete roads are eco-friendlier than asphalt roads. The smoother surface texture of concrete paving reduces rolling resistance compared to rougher asphalt, improving fuel economy by two to five per cent for each vehicle. Concrete roads last between 25 and 30 years without the need for major reconstruction work or repair and have a lifespan of 50 to 100 years, two to four times longer than asphalt pavement.
The minister had ignored the alarm raised by the Cement Producers Association of Nigeria that the ongoing plan of the federal government to introduce concrete roads will increase the price of cement to N9,000 per bag from the current price of N5,000. It also called on the current administration to permanently address the perennial cement price hike problem by facilitating more significant participation in the cement industry. It noted that Nigerians have no business buying cement for more than N5,600 per bag.
The association, in a statement recently jointly signed by the National Chairman, David Iweta, and National Secretary, Reagan Ufomba, commended the works minister’s position on cement-made roads but warned of dire consequences if the supply end is not appropriately addressed.
As a solution, the cement producers urged the government to emphasise road design that allows both cement technology and asphalt pavement to run concurrently and provide ample time for a smooth transition that enables contractors to invest in commensurate and requisite equipment and retooling.
Speaking on the development, the former President of the Nigerian Institute of Quantity Surveyors (NIQS), Mr Segun Ajanlekoko, said concrete roads are more durable and suitable to the country’s weather compared to asphalt, which gives way easily during the rainy season, as well as leading to either constant maintenance or in the alternative abandoned bad roads that endanger the life of the citizens.
According to Ajanlekoko, who doubles as President of the Commonwealth Association of Surveying and Land Economy (CASLE), “Under life cycle costing concrete comes out eventually cheaper than asphalt roads, especially for major highway roads.” He blamed the rising cost of cement on production costs and exchange rates.
A structural engineer and former Permanent Secretary, Lagos State Ministry of Works and Infrastructure, Mr Wasiu Olokunola, explained that adaptation of rigid pavement will bring sanity into the incessant failure of asphaltic roads (bituminous roads).
“The initial construction cost of rigid pavement is more than that of the flexible pavement but requires less preventive and routine maintenance costs than bituminous roads. Also, it has a longer life span.
“Most contractors using asphalt cheat by reducing the thickness of asphalt on the roads during construction, thereby causing early failure of such roads when under heavy vehicular loads. However, rigid pavement can detect non-adherence to the required road thickness easily.”
He said the manufacturers are taking advantage of the strong demand for cement in the market, adding the rise in cement prices is responding to the supply and demand principle.
An engineer, Dr A.I. Tijani, said the concrete road has a longer lifespan, is more resistant to deformation, and, due to their high flexural strength, can resist heavier loads and require low maintenance.
“So, in terms of suitability in poor or weak soil (swampy locations), maintenance, load bearing capacity, durability in terms of service life.
“However, its initial cost is high, and due to its low flexibility, it may not be suitable for locations with large temperature fluctuations. Using concrete for all our roads is practically impossible due to cost implications, especially for roads not meant to accommodate heavy vehicular movement. I would like to see the plan to re-use the concrete since the road utilises more natural aggregates (granites) in its production, thus leading to more extraction of our natural aggregate and defeating the goal of sustainable development.
“We have bitumen deposits in Ondo, and that is an ingredient for asphaltic roads, and it should be explored. The carbon emission from concrete production is so huge, and this is not considered in the choice of concrete road.”
