An interactive model for the FCT road context. Adjust the project size, the bitumen price, and the displacement rate to see the avoided-import cost, the plastic absorbed, and the waste-diversion impact. Built on current 2026 market figures and standard asphalt mix design.
The Federal Ministry of Works has confirmed bitumen, cement and diesel prices rose over 80% in three years, and the Minister is actively pushing contractors away from asphalt toward concrete to cut imported bitumen dependence. Partial plastic displacement speaks directly to that stated federal priority — it reduces the import bill without abandoning asphalt.
On an Abuja corridor, the Ministry's own subsisting asphalt unit rate was about ₦11,000/m², with real cost cited nearer ₦20,000/m² — so binder savings compound against an already-stressed budget.
Road geometry & layers. Layer build-up follows FCDA cross-section drawings: surfacing is 40mm wearing + 60mm binder (100mm); the heavier dual-carriageway spec adds a 150mm bitumen macadam roadbase (250mm total), selected via the layer toggle. Prime-coat bitumen is negligible and excluded. Paved width is now built from geometry — carriageways × (lanes × lane width + shoulder) — rather than a single corridor figure. This is deliberately more conservative and more defensible than the earlier 33m/40m "bituminous section" numbers, which were likely corridor allocations rather than continuous laid asphalt and overstated tonnage by roughly 2×. Default lane width 3.65m; adjust to the FCDA standard if it differs.
Mix design. Per layer: area = length x width; volume = area x layer thickness; mix weight = volume x density; bitumen = mix weight x bitumen content; summed across layers in scope. One bitumen-content figure is applied to all layers for simplicity. In reality the macadam roadbase typically runs a lower binder content (~4%) than the wearing course, so the full-scope bitumen figure is a slight over-estimate. Set the bitumen-content and shoulder figures to the actual project values before presenting.
Bitumen price. April 2026 trade reporting put Nigerian truck/ex-works prices at ₦1.35–1.4m per tonne ($1,006–1,043/t), rising, up from ₦1.25–1.35m earlier. Default ₦1.38m is mid-range; delivered-to-FCT will run higher once inland transport is added.
Displacement rate. Dry-process plastic addition typically substitutes a single-digit percentage of binder. Default 8% is illustrative and conservative-to-moderate; the real figure must come from NBRRI / mix-design testing for the specific LDPE/PP feedstock. Evidence is strongest for the surfacing courses — the macadam-roadbase ("full scope") option is the volume play but the less-proven one, and should be treated as an upside case pending validation. Treat the plastic-absorbed tonnage as recovered ROBA diverted from waste.
What this model does NOT include. Aggregate, transport, plant, labour, processing cost of the recovered plastic, or performance/durability effects. It isolates the bitumen-import line only — deliberately, because that is the line the displacement touches. A full cost-benefit case needs the processing cost of ROBA netted against the bitumen saving.
Use. Indicative model for cohort and FCDA conversations. Replace the price and displacement defaults with a real delivered-FCT bitumen quote and NBRRI test results before presenting as anything other than indicative.