Lack of refineries responsible for high cost of roads construction in Nigeria –Hassan

By Matthew Denis, Abuja

The National Chairman of Nigerian Institutions of Highway and Transportation Engineers (NIHTE), Engr. Saidu Hassan has disclosed that lack of functional Refineries are responsible for the high cost of roads construction in the country.

He made the disclosure during an interview with Journalists in Abuja while speaking how bitumen were extracted from the national refineries in the 80s and 90s before.

Hassan Said: “I want to tell you that as a practical Highway Engineer, I have been lifting my bitumen from the Kaduna Refinery in the 90s, not less than 40,000 to 60,000. So why are our refineries not working is also a factor, it is not about going abroad we produce bitumen in Kaduna Refinery. Why are our refineries not working today?

“We are not telling ourselves the truth which is part of all the problems we have in this country. When the refineries are working the contractors will collect the bitumen from there and which dollar do you want to go and buy bitumen?

“We need to go deep and think, not just talk on the surface. The only thing you are going to say is that Kaduna Refinery uses heavy crude oil while we have to lift Brent but what the government was doing at that time is exchanging the Brent and taking their light brent and giving them, the versional crude and we were lifting bitumen from Kaduna.

“I’m not telling you I heard it, I lifted bitumen myself from kaduna refinery and let somebody come and dispute what I said. All this information we are providing is from the professional point of view and documented.

The Highway Engineer Expert suggested to the Federal government to harness the abundant natural bitumen deposited in Ondo state for roads construction against importing with huge money if the need arises.

He said ” If you’re saying bitumen is expensive because of importation, why can’t we harness our bitumen deposit in Ondo state?l

“I always contemplate if we have natural bitumen in Ondo state why don’t we say as policymakers that this contractor, multinational go and invest in Ondo state? Is Ondo state not part of Nigeria and can’t we benefit from the resources given to us by God? So, we should be fair to everybody and this is my personal opinion.”

Speaking on the issue of using asphalt and concrete pavements in road projects, the Chairman stressed that each road project is designed for a specific number of years like 20 years, 30 years, and 50 years so usage of of them depends on the condition of the contract.

He said ” Under any contractual agreement, you have entered with the government all these guidelines are spelt out. So, in your condition of contract we call it volume 3 or what have you. They’re all stated there in terms of liability, and budget before you start any project you must have signed an agreement.

“Our position has always been that both concrete (rigid) pavement and asphalt (flexible) are both materials required to do our work. So, it’s not an issue, that’s why we say your engineering judgement and economy will determine which type of pavement you will choose and this choice is based on your design analysis, like what kind of terrain are you appealing to such material?

“As a layman let me give you an example in Abuja where you have asphalt all over the place but it’s not 100 percent asphalt because your bridge is a concrete pavement.

“All these flyovers in Abuja are concrete pavement and what they did is they are composite because after finishing the concrete work they now lay asphalt on top of it for uniformity so you won’t know you’re transmitting between one to the other. Therefore, using asphalt or concrete is not an issue of debate; it is about the terrain.” He said