How do you feel about cement concrete roads?

The main plus with concrete roads is that they have a much longer lifespan. And it’s not a joke. It became very interesting to me to know your attitude to cement-concrete roads.

How do you feel about cement concrete roads? And what do you know about them?

In Ukraine, only about 1% of cement-concrete roads. -30-40% in Europe. These figures show that concrete road construction technology has worked well in other countries. But for some reason, this technology is still not actually used in our country.

There are still such roads! How do you feel about cement concrete roads?

Although there are positive cases – the Kiev-Keville highway. Also known as «Varshavka». For 10 years of operation, not a single square meter of repair work has been completed. New projects include Dnepr-Reshetilovka, Nikolaev-Kropyvnytskyi and Zhitomir district.

This has nothing to do with the construction of cement roads across the country anytime soon. But it is important to choose priority areas. Those that are economically viable are prioritized. Especially the roads leading to Odessa, Kherson, Nikolaev (that is, the southern part of the country), the western border. As well as roads near Kiev.

What is needed for this? How do you feel about cement concrete roads?

The first is bidding.

The current situation is that companies that know how to win a tender do not yet know how to build concrete roads. And for example, Western companies that know how to win a specific offer do not yet know how to win a tender. In other words, we are talking about creating competition.

It is also very important that a different method is used during the design phase of the road. Placing concrete or plastic, ash and slag or any other method of road construction or repair. It is important that such an opportunity is provided by the person who sets the terms of the auction and develops the project documentation.

The second is the presence of cement.

Those small successes that began with the construction of concrete roads have led to a shortage of cement in the country. The production capacity of the plant is full and the import of cement has begun. Although two years ago, when we studied this industry, the capacity of the plant was half that. In other words, the situation becomes like asphalt. Of course, although the share of imports is about 90%. When constructing concrete roads, we need to localize as much as possible, and the cement industry must be ready for this.