Cement, Energy and Environment

- Inaugural Session In his inaugural address, Dr. Raman Singh underlined that cement was one of the core industries in the country absolutely essential for the country's health, as well as for our economy. He stressed that our per-capita consumption of cement, which was very low at about 100 kg, should go up to at least the world average of around 260 kg, and the dream of the Prime Minister for improvement of National regarding the importance of uninterrupted flow of traffic, which can only be achieved by the construction of superhighways and expressways. He talked about the recently constructed Mumbai-Pune Expressway, which was the topic of the Seminar. He gave details of the problems faced and how they were overcome. In his Address, Shri Balasaheb Shivarkar, Hon'ble Minister of State, PWD, Government of Maharashtra, spoke about the vital need for Maharashtra to modernise its road system. He also mention~d that it was not only in urban areas but also in rural areas where roads had to be upgraded and modernised. He added that concretepavements were probably the best answer for both urban and rural roads inMaharashtra, since there was a high rainfall in almost the entire region, for which concrete pavement is the right answer. Front row of the audience. Seated (from left to right): Shri Vikramsinh Pa tankar, Hon'ble Minister, PWD, Government of Maharashtra gave the background to concrete roads in Maharashtra, stating Smt Renuka Kumar; Shri Ram Lubhaya, Secretary PWD, Government of Rajasthan; Dr. SP Ghosh, Advisor CMA; and Slui AVSrinivasan, Secretary General CMA that the State had long stretches of concrete roads even in the 30's and the 40's, some of which were still existing. He added that the time had come for building more concrete roads in the State. Highway infrastructure on Golden Quadrilateral Highway Project and North– South, East-West corridors was becoming a reality and expected to be completed by 2003 and 2007 respectively by NHAI. Shri T.M.M. Nambiar, President, CMA welcomed the guests and delegates. In his talk, emphasis was laid on importance of good infrastructure for the country toenable it to enter into the 21st Century. He also pointed out the vita l role concrete roads could play in the upgradation of our existing infrastructure. Shri P.D. Karandikar, Vice Chairman & Managing Director, Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation (MSRDC) spoke After the Inaugural Address the Hon'ble Minister released two CMA publications: 1. India's First Access Controlled Expressway-Mumbai-Pune 2. Handbook of Ready-Mixed Concrete. Vote of Thanks was proposed by Shri B.L. Jain, Vice President, CMA. Technical Session There were four speakers in the Technical Session, which was chaired by Shri S.J. Raina,