Anambra State Adopts New Technology On Road Maintenance:

Awka—THE government of Anambra State has started experimenting a new technology in road construction expected to make the roads last long after construction.
Governor Willie Obiano, who spoke at a demonstration of the use of the technology on a short road linking the state secretariat complex with the Alex Ekwueme Square in Awka, said the new technology is expected to boost his administration’s effort towards finding a lasting solution to the challenge of building roads that would stand the test of time in the state. Obiano said: “We just want to experiment with this short and busy road and see how it can withstand heavy traffic before we can begin to adopt it for internal roads within the urban and non-urban areas. “After the experiment, the road will be placed under close observation for six months to see whether it would withstand heavy traffic. And if we are eventually convinced that such is the case, then we will begin to apply the technology in the construction of roads in the hinterland and other areas.”

According to him, the test being done on the short stretch of road was at no cost to the state government. The representative of West Incorporated, the owners of the technology, Mr. Telforn Soden, explained that the product is a road stabilizer, which had been in use in many parts of the world. “We used this technology to build roads that have lasted for 25 years in South Africa. All that may be required is just resurfacing. We have also built roads in Turkey, Sudan, Egypt, Equatorial Guinea, Indonesia, Malaysia and in many parts of Eastern Europe,” he said. The Commissioner for Works, Chief Law Chinwuba explained that the new technology was expected to drive down the cost of constructing roads in the state by 50 percent, adding that the state government decided to adopt the technology as part of fulfilling its mantra of doing-more-with-less. Chinwuba observed that Anambra has the best network of roads in the country, noting however that what the state had to figure out was the way to maintain the roads constantly without hitches.

He commended Governor Obiano for funding the purchase of new road maintenance equipment up to the tune of N100m and assured that road maintenance teams were currently deployed across the three senatorial zones where they are patching up all broken roads and filling potholes.

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