Nigeria: Contractors Urged to Replace Kerosene With Emulsion in Road Construction
29th February 2012
The Minister of Works, Arc. Mike Onolememen has said that contractors on Nigerian Highways would henceforth use bitumen emulsion to replace the use of kerosene on road construction.He made this known during the opening ceremony of the workshop on quality control on Federal Highway Road Projects in Abuja over the weekend.
The Minister stated that the Ministry has taken step towards addressing road construction problem with the creation of a full pledged department of Material Geotechnics and Quality Control with the main responsibility of advising and closely monitoring and ensuring that materials used in the construction of Federal roads are of the highest economically feasible quality and meet necessary standards specified for them.
"There is need for capacity building as it is one of the objectives in the drive to restore quality control to its place in the scheme of things. This administration program of restoration of the nearly 35,000 kilometers of Federal roads to a high level serviceability where user comfort, reduction in travel time and vehicle operating costs as well as value for money will be the hallmark of the ministry's service delivery to the nation," he said.
Speaking on the impact of the newly established department, the minister assured that the ministry has accepted that cutback bitumen be replaced with bitumen emulsion in highway construction for prime coats, tack coats and surface dressings, adding that the measure is environmentally friendly and cost effective which will help to save millions of litres of solvent such as kerosene, which would otherwise have been utilized for preparation of cutback.
The Minister also assured Nigerians that the Federal Ministry of Works is determined to improve the capacity of staff in order to improve the quality of the country's road while calling on road users to desist from the habit of abusing roads through overloading, blocking of drains and dumping of refuse as well as all other unwholesome practices.
