In a remarkable feat of engineering earlier this month, Glasgow Airport‘s runway was resurfaced with new high-tech material, all at night while Scotland slept. This was in sharp contrast with the decision by Nigeria to close down Abuja Airport for repairs to its runway. Passengers fly to the northern city of Kaduna from where they are transported 190km by rail or in guarded buses to the federal capital and second busiest airport. The two examples are not about differences between the two countries’ stages of economic development but really the difference between a batch and continuous approach to infrastructure management. It is not uncommon for nations to wait until there is total or near collapse before decisions are made to finance critical infrastructure. In the US, for example, political wrangling has put off decisions to renew the nation’s infrastructure for decades. Inadequate investment in maintenance has resulted in the degradation of existing facilities, requiring many of them to be totally replaced. The high costs of starting afresh are often associated with paying for construction and deferring maintenance costs into the future. A large part of the problem is reliance on procurement procedures that focus on the awarding contracts to the lowest bidder. To win in the competition construction firms looks for places to trim their budgets. Maintenance is usually an easy target for cuts. In many cases, maintenance is subjected to separate contracts. There are many hidden costs associated with batch infrastructure model. In the case of Abuja, for example, additional costs are likely to be incurred in foregone businesses and people defer travel to the country. Locally, the aviation minister has had to relocate his office to Kaduna for the period of the repairs. Other unintended consequences include the need to control helicopter movement between the two cities. The batch model is not limited to transportation. It is a common practice that often results in construction without adequate planning for sourcing spare parts for vital equipment. In fields like water and energy supply African government local offices often serve as warehouses for obsolete pumps and generators. Large projects are often accused of fostering corruption. This may be true but the problem is worsened by the use of batch models that often result in the supply of faulty equipment. This is often because the separation between construction and maintenance eliminates the need to agree on technical specifications for the supply of spare parts.


Source: https://qz.com/942171/africas-infrastructure

What will take Nigeria six weeks to do was done in a night in Scotland,thanks to latest technology

Paragraphs please. Interesting article it deserves front page. This are type of thing people should be discussing for many pages.

Front Page: Mynd44 Lalasticlala

Some interesting points to ponder. This type of thinking that will move us closer to eliminting structural productivity issues.

The batch model is not limited to transportation. It is a common practice that often results in construction without adequate planning for sourcing spare parts for vital equipment. In fields like water and energy supply African government local offices often serve as warehouses for obsolete pumps and generators.

This because we operate in a penny wise pound foolish mindset. Strive for quality and seem not to care about long term maintenance.

One way to shift from a batch to a continuous is to explicitly incorporate technical knowledge generation into the initial project design. This can be done by either adding research facilities onto infrastructure projects or linking them to existing institutes and engineering schools in national universities.

African R& spending is abysmal. Our Universities are under funded and local talent is not given great opportunity to learn. The focus needs to be on trade skills and S.T.E.M development.

[Much of the infrastructure construction in Africa today is done by Chinese firms. It is unclear whether how many of such projects include sufficient long-term maintenance plans.

The majority major infastrure projects are being awarded to Chinese firms in Nigeria.

When South Korea built its first high-speed rail it also created the Korea Railroad Research Institute in 1996.Over its short period of existence, the institute has become a world leader in transportation science and technology.

I remember alot of complaints in my industrialization thread was about Education. If Nigeria spends more to develope in human capital we wouldn't be so dependant on foreign brains. Every African country can boast about have some manner of raw material but the abilty to harness and process it alot cant.

Nigeria probably wouldn’t have its current air transportation problem if it had added a technical institute or created links with engineering schools to support continuous infrastructure management. At the very least the airport would have served as teaching facility for transportation infrastructure experts and an incubator for engineering firms.

Yes yes yes author knocks it out of park.

Am nt surprise Nigeria is always backward and lagging behind because self-centeredness, d only thing dey lead is corruption