‘ Why road construction projects fail in Nigeria’
The inability to tame shoddy jobs by road contractors has left tales of woe among motorists, who ply them and increased the budget for the works ministry. The recurring roads failure has been traced to lack of diligent geotechnical studies, old age, inade
FOLLOWING complaints about substandard roads by contractors, eggheads in the construction sector have cited inadequate public funding, inefficient procurement process, and lack of credible infrastructure development policy, as major reasons for failed road projects in the country.
They noted that road construction projects have suffered serious setbacks since the nation's independence, causing untold hardship and economic stagnation for the citizenry in moving goods and services across the length and breadth of the country. They said the government did not set priorities for the road system right from the onset, and its dearth has stifled the productive capacity of the economy.
A study in the World Journal of Advanced Engineering Technology and Sciences, by Janet Yakubu, Sunday Daku, Rhoda Gusikit, Edwin Emmanuel and Mbushu Mangai of the Department of Geology, Faculty of Natural Sciences, University of Jos, further traced the deplorable condition of roads to lack of careful and diligent geotechnical studies and inadequate knowledge of geology of the area.
They listed roads that have failed due to lack of proper geotechnical studies as Awotan- Akufo, SagamuPapalanto highway, OnitshaEnugu Expressway and Akoko highway. Geotechnical studies provide information on the physical and mechanical properties of soil or rock around or brought to the construction site.
According to them, some
roads have failed because of improper consideration of geology like the Sagamu - Benin expressway, LagosIbadan expressway, Ibadan - Ife, Osogbo - Iwo expressway, Abakaliki area and Port Harcourt - Enugu expressway. Roads are founded on geologic earth materials and greatly controlled by geology. Other conditions such as old age, inadequate maintenance, poor design and construction, lack of drainage, use of poor and substandard materials, and heavy traffic has also led to road failures.
Despite the absence of definite statistics, most experts agree that the rate of road failure has increased in recent years. There is strong evidence to suggest that while geotechnical processes are becoming better controlled and more reliable, failures of small, medium and big scale geotechnical works such as roads continue to arise with embarrassing frequency in the country.
To minimise road failures, they suggested that the foundations, walls, and top slab are rigidly tied together by high- tensile reinforced steel to ensure the structure’s firmness, so that floodwater does not penetrate the structure and carry it away.
“The materials for making concrete should meet all requirements in accordance with the recommended standard specifications for road and bridges, adding that the lack of provision for drainage systems on the highway leads to the reduction in the strength character of the soil as a result of ingress of water. The values of natural moisture contents of most failed roads indicate that the load bear
ing capacity of the soils increase rapidly as the moisture content values are lower than the plastic limit values.
“To avoid this, they advised the government to build drains to help keep soil dry. Resurfacing is not recommended, as it is only a shortterm solution. This is because once a road deteriorates the subsurface follows and affects the new surface as well. Government should establish an anti- corruption team made up of men and women of integrity who will not request the contractors to "grease their palms" to become lenient in enforcing specification.
The study also recommended the establishment of Contractor’s Accountability Programme where genuine complaints are lodged against contractors for nonperformance, poor performance, dereliction or repudiation. For continuous record of such offences, they said the contractor should be banned from bidding future contracts for a period of time, thus weeding out non performers and creating a contractor pool of proven performers.
The study also suggested that geotechnical properties of the constituent layers should also be given adequate attention to enable effective transmission of the load on the pavement to the subgrade without much deformation. “Further investigation should be carried out on the pavement, especially on the asphaltic concrete to assist future designs.
“Other possible solutions are strict adherence to geotechnical standards and design details, geotechnical
stabilisation/ replacement of poor soils, geological/ mineralogical stabilisation such as grouting of fault/ fractured subsurface and the use of lime and other stabilizers to correct expansive soils.”
Also, a fellow of the Nigerian Institute of Quantity Surveyors, Dr James Etim, said supervising agencies of government should pay attention to contractors and their collaborators. He stated that the government after refusing to engage the right professionals ends up compromising standards by using substandard materials, methods and workmanship to carry out the road contracts.
He argued that registered and licensed professional engineers should be used as contractors in the road construction process, while regulatory bodies should be carried along from inception to completion.
Etim regretted that the government hardly placed sanctions and disciplinary actions on those who violate quality and standards, thereby exposing innocent road users to danger, saying, “If these are implemented in the industry, it will serve as a deterrent to others.”
National Chairman, Nigerian Institution of Highway of Transportation Engineers, Saidu Hassan, said the major problem in the transportation sector is reforms. “Since 1991, Nigeria has tried to put it in place, which lends to Road Vision 2000 and we cannot say we have sub- standard roads in because they are designed to carry out certain Axle loads
under spelt out specification,”
According to him, most roads in Abuja have lasted for years, and they have lifespan of 20 years and they need to be redesigned to last long since there are standard specifications for road construction as produced by the works ministry.
Lamenting failed projects, an engineer, Idris Yahaya called on government to work towards entrenching policy consistency to reduce the level of uncertainty in the system and encourage private entrepreneurs to participate in road development, adding “we need to put in place credible legal frameworks to ensure a favourable operating environment.
“This is meant to mitigate the risk of loss that may arise from government policy reversals. It will encourage private capital to flow towards infrastructure development. In wooing the private sector, the government at all levels must take initiatives to increase fiscal allocation to road projects. “Without making road construction projects sustainable development programmes, it will be difficult to achieve the country’s road goal and without critical functional infrastructure in the right quantity, the economy will not grow and it will aggravate the present insecurity.”
The President, Nigerian Institute of Quantity Surveyors, Mr Kene Nzekwe, stated that the planning and procurement are important to curb road failures, saying, key professionals should be actively involved in all the road construction projects.
Nzekwe said: “Before embarking on these constructions, the Federal Government must count their cost because they are critical elements and once they are not articulated, then the project is bound to fail. The government should partner with institutions that would have delivered cost management.