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Development and Operation Model of Plant-derived Soil Additives for Road Disaster Reduction on Problematic Soil

Disaster Prevention and Mitigation

Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia

Development and Operation Model of Plant-derived Soil Additives for Road Disaster Reduction on Problematic Soil

Constructing passable, maintainable, and affordable roads in rural Ethiopia

Principal Investigator

- Prof.
  KIMURA Makoto
  The Center for African Area Studies, Kyoto University
- Associate Prof.
  Mesay Daniel Tulu
  College of Architecture and Civil Engineering, Addis Ababa Science and Technology University

ODA Recipient Country

Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia

Research Institutions in Japan

Kyoto University / University of Miyazaki

Research Institutions in Counterpart Country

Addis Ababa Science and Technology University(AASTU) / Jinka University(JKU) / Ethiopian Roads Authority(ERA)

Adoption fiscal year

FY 2018

Research Period

5 Years

Overview of the Research Project

Developing methods for constructing roads on expansive soil by using soil additives derived from local plants
Many parts of Ethiopia remain hardly accessible due to a lack of well-maintained rural roads. Expansive soil, a typical problematic soil spread across Africa, makes it difficult to construct and maintain rural roads. This project will identify physical mechanisms of the expansive soil and develop soil additives made from local plants to improve the stability of unpaved roads. The goal is to find simple and convenient methods to construct roads without relying on expensive machinery and to develop an operational model in collaboration with local governments and communities.

Improving year-round accessibility in rural areas of sub-Saharan region
The project seeks to identify local plants that can be used for soil additives and apply them to the expansive soil in constructing rural roads. In the future, this road maintenance method can solve problems of the expansive soil found all over Africa. By incorporating different local conditions and improving the method as a comprehensive operational model, this project can increase accessibility to all-weather roads in sub-Saharan Africa.