CEE Jan-Mar 2012

Zambia: This impoverished country has a fertility of more than six children a woman. Teenage pregnancies are high. Though fami ly planning was introduced in the 1960s, there is poor access to reproductive health services. Healthcare providers have little training. Availability of contraceptives is low. All these factors lead to a high maternal and infant mortality. Courtesy: Down to Earth, Nov.16 - 30, 2011 P10. PAKISTAN CEMENT MAKERS NOT PASSING ON SAVINGS Pakistan's cement industry is reportedly not passing along savings it has acquired on reduction in Sales Tax & Federal Excise Duty (FED) along with removal of Special Excise Duty (SED) to its consumers. The high price of building material is expected to dent the growth of the manufacturing sector during FY12, said officials. "This has rendered the cement sector to save Rs 22-23 per bag, depriving consumers of the taxation benefit announced by the government," he added. The cement sector in Pakistan is making extremely high margins, as the stakeholders pushed up rates of cement to a new record of Rs 425 per bag, while in some areas of the country it is being sold for Rs 470 per 50 kg bag. "Manufacturers have continued to increase the prices despite the reduction in sales tax and FED by 1 per cent (benefit of Rs 200 per tonne) respectively along with removal of 2.5 per cent SED," sources said. Courtesy: Construction Industry Review, Feb. 13, 2012, P10. SUSTAINABLE INFRASTRUCTURE CHENNAI CORPORATION TO LAY 1100 KM OF WHITE– TOPPED ROADS AT A COST OF ABOUT RS. 2,500 CRORE The Corporation of Chennai plans to invest, in the next five years, at least Rs.2500 crore to lay some 11 00 km of cement concrete roads to Greater Chennai for better longevity and good riding surface. In the same period 1,621 km of bituminous roads will be laid at almost one– fourth the cost in the city. "These are just initial estimates. A more comprehensive study will reveal the details", said a corporation official . Justifying the need for white topped roads in an earlier interaction with TOI , mayor Saidai Duraisamy said it was the solution for the never ending road crisis. "Concrete roads can withstand heavy rain and last at least 25 years. The 30 roads we plan to lay according to international standards are all going to be of concrete," he said. Experts however, are not very happy with the idea. "The corporation simply does not have the capacity in terms of manpower and that time to lay concrete roads," said a road engineer of a private firm. It takes one and a half months to lay one km of concrete road while laying a bitumen road would take just seven nights, he said. "Moreover the entire stretch has to be closed while being laid. Though the concrete takes 28 days to attain full strength, the road can be opened after seven days when it would have reached 70% of its strength ," he said. Laying cement concrete roads could also being other problems, the biggest being the coordination with uti lity agencies like TNEB and Metro water. "Once the road is laid, it will be too expensive to allow for road cuts and utmost planning is required before laying roads," said a corporation official. Others say it is not a comprehensive alternative to black-topped roads. "Only the top layer is different. If the water seeps into the sub-layers, it will crack and repairing a concrete road is much more expensive," said an expert. White-topped roads could also increase the atmospheric temperature. 'White radiates more heat than black and concrete roads will increase the temperature," said KP Subramanian, former professor in the department of urban planning, Anna University. UltraTech Cements, a private player in the infrastructure sector, recently made a presentation to the corporation on concrete roads. "The Cement Concrete Road Institute, a government body, has conclusively proven, based on research, that concrete roads yield 15% savings in diesel. And therefore it makes sense to shift to cement concrete roads," said OP Puranmalka, Director, UltraTech Cements. He added that "bitumen is being imported in the country, cement is available aplenty". Courtesy: Times of India, Chennai, December 8, 2011 72 )