Govt shifts focus from earth feeder roads to chip seal ones for durability

By The Inspirer

The Government has decided to focus on constructing chip seal feeder roads instead of earth feeder roads (the cheapest type of roads whose pavement is made totally from soil such as murram or laterite). The move is intended to achieve durability and reduce road maintenance costs, officials have said.

Chip seal a pavement surface treatment that combines one or more layer(s) of asphalt with one or more layer(s) of fine aggregate (such as sand or gravel). However, though they are more durable than earth roads, they are not as long-lasting as asphalt roads, and are typically used for carrying lower traffic volumes than asphalt ones.

Officials at the Rwanda Transport Development Agency (RTDA) and the Local Administrative Entities Development Agency (LODA) said on Saturday, September 11, 2021, that there is a feeder road master plan that is being developed and could be available in 2022.

This master plan, they said, will indicate very critical roads which will be prioritised, including those that should be urgently covered by chip seal, adding that it will ensure that feasibility studies are done prior to their construction.

They were during the Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee (PAC) responding to issues identified by the Auditor General (AG)’s performance audit of feeder roads in the country.

The audit covered a five-year period from July 2014 to December 2020 and involved RTDA, LODA and districts. It assessed 63 feeder road projects.

Data from RTDA show that the length of feeder roads in the country increased from 470 kilometres in 2014/2015 to 2,434 kilometres in 2018/2019.

Feeder roads are defined as any roads linking agricultural areas (farms) to commercial centers (markets) and/or processing plants. But, they can also facilitate the movement of people and goods for various purposes such as education, health and tourism in concerned areas.

Among other findings, the report indicated that murram roads do not last long unless systematic planning and implementation of regular maintenance is done. It indicated that there are a number of weaknesses, including lack of feasibility studies, and (rain) water not being channeled to appropriate final destination, which affects the sustainability of feeder roads.

Overall, it indicated that over Rwf48.3 billion has been invested in construction, rehabilitation or maintenance works of the sampled feeder road projects.

It warned that if not addressed in a timely manner, these weaknesses may persist and affect the quality of feeder roads being constructed or rehabilitated, which eventually deters the achievement of the intended objective to facilitate movement of people and goods within and between districts.

MP Jean Claude Ntezimana said that the residents in western part of Rwanda expressed concern that the roads constructed are shortly damaged because of the landscape and the landslides that are frequent in the region.

“Road planning should not be one-size-fits-all in the entire country because roads can last differently depending on the features of the regions in question,” he said.

MP Anita Mutesi said that there should be a strategy to consider roads that are of great importance to the people and make them durable.

“It would be better to construct even a few durable roads that are most beneficial to the people instead of building many roads that are easily destroyed and become impassable and involve frequent maintenance expenses,” she said.

The road master plan could offer a solution

LODA Director-General, Claudine Marie Solange Nyinawagaga said that the master plan will help address such issues by ensuring harmonisation in planning, which consists of districts deciding together which feeder roads are a top priority so that they are constructed.

Munyampenda said that the master plan will indicate which roads will be covered with chip seal because it is very urgent, especially in regions where there is much rain which can easily damage roads in case they are only built with soil.

On the budget aspect, he said that earth feeder road cost between around Rwf100 million [a kilometre], while chip seal road cost around Rwf400 million a kilometre.

“We carried out a study that indicated that if we treat a road surface with chip seal, it can last between seven and 10 years [without maintenance], and the maintenance needed subsequently is not costly,” he said, indicating that they are cost-effective.

For earth roads, he said, they need costly maintenance after two years, adding that they are easily destroyed during rainy period.

He said that the master plan will give an estimated idea of cost so as to know where to source funding in order to get means to implement the programme – being it from national budget, or development partners.

Meanwhile, Munyampenda told PAC that among 450 roads that are under construction in the country in partnership with the World Bank, about 300 roads will consist of chip seal.

Under the first phase of the National Strategy for Transformation (NST1), the Government of Rwanda would increase accessibility to farms, collection centers and markets by developing 3,000 kilometres of feeder roads from 2018 to 2024.