President Muhammadu Buhari, on Friday, May 26, 2023, virtually commissioned Nigeria’s most extended concrete road project.
The road in Ebonyi state, southeast Nigeria, is called the ‘ring road project’ and is 199 kilometres long.
It runs across eight of the 13 local government areas of the state and was built with loan financing from Islamic Development Bank and the African Development Bank.
At the event, Governor Dave Umahi thanked President Buhari for helping get the approval of the National Assembly for the loan financing for the road project.
Governor Umahi had earlier reiterated his confidence in the concrete pavement as the answer to perennial road failures in the southeast.
“Concrete technology is the answer to our road problems in the southeast. If we can do this, then confidence in government would be restored,” he said.
Governor Umahi introduced the rigid pavement system, which uses concrete to construct roads to ensure they last longer.
Many roads in the state have now been constructed with the new technology.
Experts say concrete roads do not require frequent repairs or patch works like asphalt roads.
Besides, advancements in concrete technology have reduced the cost of concrete paving while improving performance significantly.
For instance, the average life span of concrete pavements is 27.5 years before repair, while asphalt pavements have an average life span of only 15.5 years before repair.
Unlike asphalt roads, concrete roads are not damaged by the leaking oils from vehicles or by extreme weather conditions like excess rain or excessive heat.
