NAN-H-59
Road
By Kate Obande
Abuja, Dec. 14, 2016 (NAN) Dr Isa Emoabino, Chairman Nigerian Institution of Highway and Transportation Engineers (NIHTE), has called for the extensive maintenance and repair of roads to ensure safety of road users during the Yuletide.
Emoabino made the call in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Wednesday in Abuja.
According to him, this month is the peak of road usage in the country.
He advised that the agencies in charge of road repairs should fix the roads early before the roads would be too busy.
“ This is a period where the roads are full with traffic because of people travelling home for festivity and so on.
“This is also the dry period for which the roads need to be fixed; it is a period for which the road maintenance needs to be at its peak.
“Those that have to fix the road should do it at a time when the traffic density is not too high.
“They should schedule their road maintenance in such a way that they have the roads free of traffic.”
He explained that proper diversions should be created when road repair was ongoing to allow free flow of traffic.
According to him, scheduling road work to night hours is not a feasible idea because road repair requires a lot of activities that need to be done in day time.
The chairman told NAN that road maintenance should be done regularly if possible daily to save cost.
“Maintenance of road is a daily affair, it is better for you to fix a crack on a road rather than wait for that crack to become a pothole.
“If you can attack the crack from the beginning, you spend less money than waiting for it to become a deep gully, then you award a major contract.” (NAN)
KTE/MO
====Edited by Morayo Omolade