Latest News

Nigerian Cement manufacturers lobby for concrete roads

Aug, 17 2012

(Nigeria)  --  Cement Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (CMAN) has asked the Federal Government to consider the use of cement to build concrete roads to substitute laterite and asphalt which have short life-spans.

Chairman of the association, Mr Joseph Makoju, said that although the initial cost of building concrete roads would be 10-15 per cent higher, it would be cheaper in the long run.

Nigeria has an installed capacity of 28 million metric tonnes and a demand of only 17 million metric tonnes of cement per annum. Hence, the excess cement produced locally could be leveraged in constructing roads that would be longer lasting.

“Nigeria is now a cement-producing country. This can be leveraged in road construction. Until now, cement was only an alternative in terms of cost-effectiveness, but in life-cycle, the cost of concrete will be 10 to 15 per cent more expensive but in 25 years, the cost of concrete will be cheaper than asphalt”. Makoju said.

Makoju also stressed that using cement to build concrete roads will not lead to a hike in the cost of the product, arguing that on the contrary, it was the bad state of the roads that were responsible for the high cost of cement.

“We believe we are now in a position where the cost of cement should come down based on the law of demand and supply,” he said.

The cement manufacturers also promised that they could make bulk supplies to contractors building the roads, even if they had to start out as a pilot project.

Speaking through the acting Permanent Secretary in the ministry, Mr. Bala Danshehu,  Onolememen had said the Government was constrained to limit its use of cement because of its cost.

“Only in a few cases such as bridges and ports do we use cement,” he stated.  “We have a director whose schedule covers construction materials. We’ll ask him to study your proposal… In addition, we are also reviewing our design, so with this presentation, we can see how we can make cement part of our road construction.”

By: Rashmi Kalia (ARI-C NEWS)

Follow @AggResearch