Only 60,000km of the 200,000km road networks across the country are paved, Minister of Mines and Steel Development, Olamilekan Adegbite, has said.
The minister also disclosed that Nigeria has about 70 percent road infrastructure deficit while stressing the need for the country to boost local bitumen production.
He revealed this in Abuja during a press briefing on the concession of the delineated Nigerian bitumen blocks.
The minister said the cost of road construction in the country would ultimately go down with the local production of bitumen, which would also lead to import substitution, local content development and increased value addition to the mining industry, job creation, and more revenue for the government.
Adegbite said, “Nigeria currently has 200,000 km of road networks with only 60,000 km worth of road paved. This considerable road infrastructure deficit presents an inherent demand for bitumen.
“Hence, the development of Bitumen will lead to import substitution, local content development, and increased value addition of the mining industry to the domestic economy, thereby creating jobs generating revenue for the government.”
He said that the country’s bitumen deposit is ranked sixth in the world in terms of reserve size, adding that the country is endowed with a bitumen reserve size of 42.74 billion metric tonnes.
Nigeria is preparing to begin the production of bitumen locally as it has appointed a transaction advisor, PricewaterhouseCoopers, to oversee the process, he said.
