The Apapa-Oshodi-Oworonshoki-Ojota (concrete) Motorway, being constructed by AG Dangote, is victory for the promoters of adoption of cement pavement for the construction of Nigerian roads. It is victory as well for players in the Nigerian business space – transporters and other business persons.
The N73 billion motorway, was built between 1975 and 1978 and has neither been expanded nor rehabilitated since then.
In 2017. Th Dangote Group made a proposal to the Buhari administration for it to repair the Oshodi-Apapa expressway and adjoining roads. The proposal by Dangote Group include the reconstruction of the road network starting from Creek Road, Liverpool, Tin Can, all through to Marine Beach, Mile 2. Oshodi, Oworonshoki and to the Toll Gate on Lagos-Ibadan Expressway.
The reconstruction contract was awarded to the Dangote Group; in exchange, the Federal Government would grant Dangote a 10-year tax holiday.
The drive for the use of concrete pavement for road construction started in September 2012 to be specific. It commenced then when BusinessDay, in collaboration with Cement Manufacturers Association of Nigeria, held a conference with the theme ‘Exploring Cement Based Option for Sustainable Road Construction in Nigeria’ at Eko Hotel & Suites Victoria Island, Lagos. It was a great conference which laid bare very convincing facts – facts that tell you it is economically wise (on the long run) for Nigeria to go concrete roads.
At the end of deliberations at the conference, the following points among many others were made:
• There is enormous deficit in transportation infrastructure which is an important requirement for economic development.
• The technology being used for road construction across the world has attracted a lot of inputs from cement-based materials as against the use of asphalt, adding that Nigeria needs to imbibe this new technology.
• Use of cement for road construction is cost-effective, long lasting, requires less maintenance and is more environmental-friendly, relative to Asphalt.
• Over 99.9 percent of road construction today in Nigeria involves the use of Asphalt. While about 40 percent of the roads in developed countries are made of cement, less than 0.1 percent is used in Nigeria. Cement which is readily available in the country today can be utilized in constructing longer-lasting, more cost-efficient roads.
Late Joseph Makoju, then chairman Cement Manufacturers Association of Nigeria and special adviser to Dangote Group’s president and CEO, told BusinessDay more in an exclusive interview with Siaka Momoh and his colleague Chuka Uroko in Lagos.
For him, “Constructing a road with cement is between 25 and 50 per cent cheaper than making it with asphalt, a method that is currently popularly with Nigeria. And this is when you take the life cycle of the road into consideration. But the concrete road is 10 per cent more expensive to construct than asphalt road, which is the initial capital cost when you are constructing it”.
Makoju argued somebody who is just looking at the immediate cost would be attracted to asphalt. “But one thing we definitely know, even the asphalt road construction engineers will admit, the life cycle of the road is what matters. Once you have completed the road, take the life cycle of the road over 20- 30 years and more, the concrete becomes extremely much cheaper because less maintenance is required. And in a country like Nigeria where we know we have poor maintenance culture, it makes sense then that the choice should be concrete road.
What makes the takeoff of the project interesting is the private sector involvement, a step that is in consonance with the deliberation at the conference.
For instance, a paper presented by Amadou Wadda, Senior Vice President, Infrastructure, AFC, made a strong case for private sector involvement. It is therefore a welcome development that the construction of the Apapa Wharf Road in question was built by AG
Dangote, a subsidiary of Dangote Industries Limited. AG Dangote has constructed concrete roads in Ibese, Ogun State and Obajana in Kogi State.
Concrete roads have come to stay. Crater-ridden old Ojo Road and adjourning Navy Town and Marwa Roads in Satellite/Ijegun axis are currently beneficiaries of concrete roads. More roads should wear this garment – roads in riverine areas of the country in particular.
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