Visit to the ministry of works Edo state

Commissioner’s Speech
According to the Commissioner the duties of the ministry concerning Highway and
Transportation Engineering, is in the areas of planning, design, management and
street lighting.
He mentioned that the demand of highway transportation is very high but resources
to satisfy the high demand are limited especially in the area of funding, as cost of
construction is very high due to importation of bitumen a major highway
construction material. He lamented that the cost of laying a one metre square
asphalt of 50mm thickness was #2000.00 before but, presently it is #5000.00, this
he said was due to the rate of foreign exchange.
He also stated that, the only way they can cut down cost of construction is to
reduce the thickness of the stone base by improving the CBR of the subgrade. In
the bid of doing that, the Commissioner said a particular foreign firm proposed a
material called earth enzyme, whose functions were to increase the CBR of the
subgrade and to control dust at the stone base. One advantage of earth enzyme
according to the Commissioner was that, with the application of the earth enzyme
on the subgrade asphalt can be laid.
He said the so called earth enzyme was investigated by the ministry in conjunction
with the academia (Uniben) but it could not meet the desired specification though
it was found to be a good material for increasing the CBR of the soil.
Planning
According to the Commissioner, as part of planning for the limited fund Edo state
has categorized her roads with reference to the design vehicle allowed on the roads
depending on the axle load. The various categories of roads mentioned were:
➢ State highways with single or dual carriageway
➢ Feeder roads
➢ State link roads
➢ Seefor roads.
Control
The Commissioner said, in other to maintain the design vehicle load and to derive
the maximum performance of the roads there is need to sett up control measures,
he mentioned a particular senerio of Dangote cement vehicles which use to carry
20tonnes now carries 65tonnes exclusive of vehicle weight.
Therefore as part of control measures he said, Edo state will soon setup weigh
bridges and toll gates for over loaded vehicle to pay heavily.
In terms of quality control during construction, the Commissioner said Edo state
government have agreed with the consultants who carried out the design to
supervise the construction process so that they can be held liable should the road
fails before the agreed specified period.
In the aspect of asphalt laying the Commissioner said, he makes sure that his staff
are always on ground to ensure that the specified compacted thickness was laid.
Structural Design/Traffic Lighting
In the area of design the Commissioner said it is normally contracted to consultants
whereas, the generators used to power the ministries during the day time are used
to power the street lights at night.
Reasons of Pavement Failure
The Commissioner mentioned two main causes of pavement failures;
1. Application of the wrong design vehicle on the pavement for instance, heavy
duty trailer by-cutting a failed portion of a federal highway followed a state
link road causing damage to the link road.
2. Low quality roads were constructed to provide political satisfaction. For
instance since the government do not have enough fund to satisfy the needs
of the people and they want to remain in power, they have no option than to
put up low quality projects at minimal cost to satisfy a wide range of masses.
This the Commissioner said has led to the construction of low quality roads
that could not stand their expected period.
QUESTION 1
Sir, you said Edo state have categorized her roads into state highways, feeder road,
link road etc depending on the design axle vehicle. How do you ensure that
motorists comply with the specified axle vehicle?
Answer: The communities have been charged to protect their road by not allowing
vehicles that exceed the axle load to ply the roads.

QUESTION 2
Sir, still on axle load, you mentioned of weigh bridges and toll gates for vehicle
exceeding the design axle load: how would you carry out this, that is how would
you determine the excess load that motorists will pay heavily ?
Answer: For now the weigh bridges and toll gates are theoretical, may be when
they come into existence there will be a way out.
QUESTION 3
Sir, there is the issue of flooding on the highways in Edo state at the slightest rain
fall; what do think is the cause and what can be done?
Answer: The cause of flooding is as a result of no proper regulations, people build
across drain channels causing flooding on the roads. The Edo state government is
planning of constructing underground primary drains to curb the problem of
flooding.
QUESTION 4
Sir, In carrying out design, data such as Average Daily Traffic(ADT) or Annual
Average Daily Traffic (AADT) are needed. How do you get these information, are
there devices for that?
Answer: Presently, there are no modern devices for traffic count, though the staff
of the ministry have been trained to Carry out manual count. So what we do is
manual count for now.