Construction Resources Management in Niger Delta's Coastal Environments: Hydro-Geomorphological Challenges to Sustainability

Abstract

A fundamental principle of sustainability in the built environment is the minimization of resource consumption. Resource management constitutes a key theme in the sustainability agenda, which affects the financial performance of construction projects. Builders are thus concerned with the control of materials, labour and plant. However, resource management poses specialized problems for coastal construction sites, due to their inherent hydro-geomorphological characteristics. The Niger Delta Region of Nigeria is an atypical wetland, ranking 9th in size globally, and forms the basin for discharge of the River Niger into the Atlantic Ocean. The hydrological characteristics of the Niger Delta region thus require effective measures for practically managing construction resources. Data is gathered from local builders in Bonny Island via the use of unstructured interviews as well as via a review of the grey literature. The findings uncover the technicalities inherent in managing resources and coping with the difficult terrain of the Niger Delta, and how these issues imply additional cost for project developers in coastal zones. In view of these geomorphological challenges, this study highlights the factors driving the exorbitant cost of building construction in the Niger Delta. This is to create a heightened awareness of the technical hurdles which hinder resource minimization and thus pose sustainability barriers to builders in coastal communities. The study submits that the hydro-morphological challenges of resource management in coastal areas should be increasingly analysed in the literature, as a measure to promote sustainability.