Works Ministry, Engineering Professionals partner on building better roads

The Nigerian Ministry of Works is entering a partnership with the professional body, Nigerian Society of Engineers, (NSE) to o ensure better quality of roads and supervise road construction projects in the country.

Nigeria’s Minister of Works, Senator David Umahi stated this when the National Leadership of NSE led by its President, Mr. Tasiu Sa’ad Gidari-Wudil paid him a courtesy visit in his office in Abuja.

The Minister while emphasizing the importance of constructing quality roads in the nation listed out policies of the government that will guide road construction work which is as follows;

• Good stabilized and tested subgrade, sub-base course before pavement placement.
• Expose subgrade, sub-base and base course to 60 days vehicular movement and continuous sheep-foot rolling before pavement placement.
• Introduction of reinforced concrete road pavement in most roads’ carriageway and shoulders.
• Continuous maintenance of all roads under construction throughout the life of the project

under contract.

• Effective design of road infrastructure anchored on detailed report of environmental site conditions and geotechnical report.
• Community relations in terms of keeping roads motorable under the period of the contract.

Senator Umahi noted that the big problem to roads construction is supervision, adding that the Ministry is committed to continuous supervision for better quality roads.

He therefore called on the NSE to improve professionalism amongst its members by training them.

Speaking on the use of asphalt and concrete pavement, Senator Umahi explained that there were different factors that affect the choice between the two materials.

“When you start to compare asphalt and concrete, it is if all things are equal, here all things are not equal, there are many factors why we are talking about concrete. 

 “We are not just comparing asphalt and concrete, no, that is not what we are doing, first of all, for the use of asphalt, these are the conditions, also for the use of concrete, these are the conditions, but there is certain terrain in states that we stressed must use concrete, we cannot change that.  You cannot put asphalt in water but you can put concrete into water,” he explained.

Explaining the high increase in cost of materials for the two road models, Senator Umahi said that the cost of materials for asphalt is in geometric progression while the pavement is in arithmetic progression.

He added that the Ministry is focused on getting the best value for money which means getting materials at the minimum purchase price and maximum efficiency and effectiveness of the product.

The NSE President, Mr. Tasiu Sa’ad Gidari-Wudil said the purpose for the visit was to seek areas of collaboration between the professional body and the Ministry.

He further commended the Minister for his efforts so far describing him as a round peg in a round hole.

Mr. Gidari-Wudil assured Senator Umahi of the NSE’s commitment to upholding Engineering best practices.