Minister of Works, Engr Nweze David Umahi
The President Bola Tinubu-led Federal Government (FG) is committed to ensuring quality road infrastructure development in Nigeria, Hon Minister of Works, Engr Nweze David Umahi has said.
In a recent press release made available to journalists in Abuja by the Minister’s Chief Press Secretary, Barr Orji Uchenna Orji, the minister made the promise when the national leadership of Nigerian Society of Engineers (NSE), led by its President, Engr Tasiu Sa’ad Gidari Wudil paid him a courtesy call in Abuja.
Emphasizing the importance attached to quality delivery of construction works by the Renewed Hope Administration (RHA) of Mr President, as well as stressing that the ‘business as usual’ syndrome in road construction is no longer tenable under Mr President’s RHA, he reeled out the new policies on road infrastructure to include:
good stabilized and tested subgrade; sub-base course before pavement placement; expose subgrade; sub-base and base course to 60 days vehicular movement and; continuous sheep-foot rolling before pavement placement.
Others, according to him were: the introduction of reinforced concrete road pavement in most road carriageways and shoulders; continuous maintenance of all roads under construction throughout the life of the project, under contract; effective design of road infrastructure anchored on a detailed report of environmental site conditions and; geotechnical report and community relations in terms of keeping roads motorable under the period of the contract.
He said that supervision was necessary in the actualization of quality delivery of road construction whether concrete pavement or asphalt, noting that each of the two models has its attendant conditions.
He noted that the stand of the Ministry is not about comparing asphalt and concrete pavement but that if you are using either of them, there are conditions attached to them. He said certain terrains on our roads make it imperative for concrete pavement to be used.
The Minister explained that the rate of increase in the cost of materials for construction of the two models is alarming and argued that the cost of materials for asphalt is in geometric progression while the cost of materials for concrete pavement is in arithmetic progression.
He also reiterated that prudence and value for money are the watchwords of the Ministry of Works under him, and this, according to him, involves getting materials at the minimum purchase price and maximum efficiency and effectiveness of the product.
Urging NSE leadership to consider retraining members of the society and enforcing discipline and strict standards of ethics in the practice of engineering in Nigeria in the interest of public safety and for the protection of economic investments, he said that in China, he discovered that there was no evidence of any road maintenance in nearly 30 years.
He further discovered that if you build a road in China and within your lifetime, the road fails, they will come for a test and if there is any evidence of compromise, the person responsible would go to prison for life. He therefore offered a partnership with the NSE in the area of supervision and consultancy.
Earlier, the NSE president said that the call was to seek areas of collaboration with the minister, even as he hailed him for his performance since his assumption of office. He advised the minister to replicate what he did as governor in Ebonyi state.
He promised that the Engineering profession in Nigeria is committed to best Engineering practices, just as he enumerated the achievements of the Society and the prospects of their smart office project, and expressed hope that it would be an innovation hub of the nation.
