By Charles Nwaoguji

Lafarge Africa Plc has become one of the key partners of the Council for the Regulation of Engineering in Nigeria (COREN) for the research and development of Nigeria’s first Concrete Mix Design Manual. The company is the country’s only cement and concrete manufacturer that contributed to the development of the manual, which was launched recently in Abuja.
Speaking at the launch ceremony, the Director of Marketing, Lafarge Africa Plc, Mr. Vipul Agrawal, said, “we commend COREN for ensuring that Nigeria now has a credible well researched Concrete Mix Design Manual to be used for concrete works in buildings and infrastructure projects in the country. We call on all those involved in manufacturing and use concrete for infrastructure development in Nigeria to use the manual to make quality concrete in building durable structures.”
Agrawal noted that Lafarge is one of the stakeholders that COREN partnered with in the research and development of the manual, along with Nigeria Road and Building Research Institute, Julius Berger Nigeria Plc, University of Uyo, among other institutions.
The Lafarge Marketing Director stated that the Concrete Mix Design Manual provides step by step guidelines on the selection and proportioning of concrete ingredients like cement, sand and aggregates, and then the mixing and placing of concrete. “This manual is a result of exhaustive research and testing with concrete materials in different parts of the country,” he added.
On his part, the President of COREN, Kashim Ali, said, “I am glad that Nigeria now has its own Concrete Manual based on local environmental conditions and raw materials and does not have to depend on reference manuals of other countries.”
Ali stated that the manual would be constantly upgraded in line with improvements in building technology.
On his part, the Deputy Governor of Bayelsa State, Rear Admiral John Jonah (retd), said the development was a big plus for engineering practice in Nigeria. The manual is a result of exhaustive research and testing with concrete materials in different parts of the country.

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