The federal government said in Monday, December 11, that road contractors are working to frustrate the new policy that allows the use concrete for the construction of roads in the country instead of asphalt.
The minister of works, David Umahi, revealed this when he appeared before the joint National Assembly Committee on Works, chaired by Senator Mpigi Barinada to defend his ministry’s 2024 budget estimates.
He therefore called for the cooperation of the National Assembly to eanure the full implementation of the policy from next year, saying there was no existing law that bars the government from using cement to construct roads.
He said apart from being too expensive to import asphalt with foreign currency, the use of asphalt had been counter productive because it doesn’t last on roads compared to those constructed with concrete.
Umahi insisted that while concrete roads could last up to 50 years, asphalted roads had a lifespan of about 10 to 15 years.
He also said embracing concrete roads would save the country a lot of foreign exchange because it would prevent frequent upward review of road projects.
Umahi said: “We have received a lot of attacks concerning our policy to make concrete roads construction mandatory for our contractors.
“Some people were saying that it is illegal for us to insist on concrete for road construction.
“However, Article 2 of all contracts and clause 51 of all conditions forming the contracts allow the ministry to change the scope, quality and quantity of every contract that is ongoing.
“We have right to change from asphalt to concrete without defiling the contract.
“All the contractors know this. The major reason we want to change from Asphalt to concrete is because we have many ongoing projects that needed to be reviewed.
“If the contract must be increased the President of Nigeria must know. After his approval, we would head to BPP (Bureau of Public Procurement) which would evaluate and give approval.
“It will then go to the Federal Executive Council. It is a lot of rigour and this brings out a lot of delays in projects execution. The more the projects delay, the more inflation sets in.
“That’s why we then said the use of concrete apart from the fact that it would last longer is better.
“Generally, we have moved back to concrete. Starting from 2024, roads projects apart from palliatives and emergency repairs, would be built on concrete so that we can maintain steady stability in the course of our projects.”
