By Daniel Tyokua
The Minister of works, David Umahi on Tuesday gave reasons why the Ministry under his watch settled for concrete pavement in construction of roads across the country.
He said concrete roads pavement remains better, cheaper and will last longer than asphalt pavement.
Umahi stated this during a meeting with Directors of the Ministry held for clarification on the use of concrete.
He explained that the initiative has been tested to be better than asphalt.
The Minister said there are a lot of advantages using concrete in road construction stressing that roads built with concrete can last for 50 years without having issues of portholes or washout.
He stated that concrete roads have a longer lifespan, it can withstand heavy traffic loads, low maintenance, less affected by temperature fluctuations .
“A lot of advantages accrue to the use of concrete to construct roads, concrete roads lasts longer compared to asphalt roads reducing the need for frequent repairs and maintenance, it’s stronger and can withstand heavy traffic loads, it also has low maintenance”
Umahi told the directors nobody is insisting that all on going road construction in the nation should be changed to concrete but that can happen under the following conditions; all roads constructed with asphalt pavement must be on concrete shoulder; alternative design on the road shoulder, no shoulder on roads with surface dressing.
“Nobody is insisting that all ongoing jobs will be on concrete, but anyone that wants to continue with asphalt can continue under the following conditions: no shoulder on surface dressing, alternative design on shoulder all road of asphalt pavement must be on concrete shoulder”
