Challenges Faced: Maintenance Proving Tough

As part of measures and efforts to foster the development of communities, some City and Municipal authorities embark on the acquisition of heavy-duty machinery for the execution of projects. In most cases, these civil engineering machinery and construction equipment include escalators, bulldozers, graders and rollers, among others. Officials of these decentralised structures are however faced with some challenges, ranging from maintenance challenges and scarcity of qualified human resources to manage the equipment already purchased. A major hurdle is the maintenance of these equipment acquired by regional and local councils. Heavy-duty machinery is most exposed to extreme temperatures, mud, dust, and vibrations during project construction. This accelerates component degradation and cause overheating, sometimes triggering a break down in the machines. These unexpected breakdowns stall projects, causing significant financial losses and labour inefficiencies. In some situations, the damaged parts are not manufactured locally, thus warranting importation from another country. When the heavy duty trucks are packed and unused for months, it sometimes results to other technical faults, generating other maintenance problems. And the maintenance of these equipment requires huge financial resources. Inadequate qualified human resource to manage this equipment is another problem. Some operators have limited knowledge on the machine capacity vis-à-vis the project and site. With the advent of technology which has resulted in an upgrade in the fabrication process of these tractors, some technicians still find it difficult integrating technology while manipulating the equipment during the construction process. And when this equipment is not properly used, the consequences ar...