http://www.punchng.com/business/homes-property/concrete-roads-cheaper-more-durable-dangote/

The Chairman of Dangote Cement, Aliko Dangote, has reiterated his plea to the Federal Government to urgently adopt concrete roads (made of cement and aggregates instead of bitumen) in the country.

Africa’s richest man said it would be to the benefit of Nigerians if the government embraced the option of using concrete for roads in the country. Aside from being very cheap, he said concrete roads were more durable with near zero maintenance cost.

Dangote said, “We are pushing for Nigeria to do concrete roads. It is cheaper to do a concrete road that will last 50 years than to do a bitumen road.

“It will also help in eliminating corruption, because if you go and build a bitumen road, it will have to be adequately maintained unlike a concrete road that is very durable.”

Dangote Cement, according to a statement, has just expanded its frontiers to Asia by constructing a three-million-metric-tonne per annum plant in Nepal as part of its investment of $4.34bn in 10 African countries.

The company is currently in 15 African countries, excluding Kenya, Niger and Mali, which are new projects, the statement added.

Its current total capacity stands at 48mmtpa, out of which Nigeria alone has the largest chunk of 29.3mmtpa.

Dangote had recently said, “We are not only building cement plants in Africa, we have gone far away to Nepal to build a three-million-metric-tonne cement plant capacity and by the time all these our new projects are completed in the next two years, Dangote Cement will have more than 70 million capacity, but we are not going to stop there; hopefully, by 2020, our targets is to get to somewhere around 100 million tonnes capacity.

“I can assure you that Africa will not lack cement now and even in the future. Africa will be self -sufficient rather than be a dumping ground for other manufacturers of cement.”

The new plants for which agreements were signed recently with Sinoma were the 3.0mmtpa in Nepal, 2.5mmtpa in Ethiopia, 3.0mmtpa in Kenya 1&2; 1.5mmtpa in Zambia; 1.5mmtpa in Senegal, 1.5mmtpa in Niger; and 1.5mmtpa each in Mali, Cameroon, Cote D’Ivoire and Ghana.

Ok

Ok

Apart from Selfish interest, we should apply different way of constructing road.
the problem is not whether cement or bitumen, the contractor who uses fake materials on our roads.

Come to Okija (the best Village) for instance, the weight and height of a road that leads to my Town will shock you

we should also add TRAIN for heavy transports!!!!

all na business strategy!

Even if it's business strategy, If it's cheaper and more durable we should try and embrace it

Several developed and even African countries use concrete / asphalt roads

Interlocked roads also work a lotb

a wellcome idea tho its still to drive his own economy

The governors knew before now that bitumen made road gives room for stealing.A concrete made road might not afford rooms to continually steal funds in guise of road repairs.

Good move Dangote...well all I can say is that Abia state Governor, Dr. Okezie Ikpeazu is now Changing the Changer!!!! Mr. Governor, Continue your Good work in Abia, your mandate is Alive!! I hope Other leaders wold follow the lead!

Eugenedimgba:
The governors knew before now that bitumen made road gives room for stealing.A concrete made road would affordable such room to continually steal funds in guise of road repairs.

Sorry bro, this your statement lacks professionalism.
Mr. Dangote's statement sounds more like a business man not as a professional because both bituminous and concrete paved roads must meet certain criteria before giving the thought of choice to choose i.e most bituminous road won't last long in Lagos and some South South states as these areas are waterside whereas bituminous road will favour Northern region.

Again, in terms of the materials use in the construction of those roads needs to be put into consideration as well for instance concrete paved roads need tons of sharp sand and imaging you need to construct a 20-25km road in the north where sharp sand is not too common that means you need to be borrowing sharp sand somewhere else.

Lastly, both bituminous and concrete paved roads have their own advantages and disadvantages which can never be over emphasized. Besides, a dishonest politician can still use the avenue of concrete paved road to steal.

There should be proper investigation by the Govt before adopting, to avoid any mistakes. However, it sounds catchy.

chidibond:
There should be proper investigation by the Govt before adopting, to avoid any mistakes. However, it sounds catchy.

Roads built with concrete last way longer than asphalt. They are also far more durable.
There are roads in the US that have been around since the fifties

I agree with Dangote as long as he's ready to crash his cement price to 400Naira per bag.

We all know that Dangote is only fighting for the interest of his coy, and not really concerned about the durability of our roads.

Zoharariel:
I agree with Dangote as long as he's ready to crash his cement price to 400Naira per bag.

We all know that Dangote is only fighting for the interest of his coy, and not really concerned about the durability of our roads.

I don't think he will crash it that low, however, if given the contract to supply cement for hundreds of Kilometres of road construction in Nigeria, you never know.