Cement, Energy & Environment Jan-Mar 2002

per cent of GDP. In France and t~e US, for concrete roads though costlier initially, are example, construction output represents less than nine per cent of GDP, while in countries such as Spain or Portugal it currently runs at respectively 14 per cent and 18 per cent. This article summarises recent construc ti on markets, trends and investment potential. Courtesy: International Cement Review Dec 2001, Pp28-29, E-mail: info@ Cem Net. co uk Web site: CemNet. com. RAW MATERIAL MIXING Mario Rammele, IBAU HAMBURG, Germany While the market share of standard Portland cements has decreased, Composite Portland Cements (CEM II) and blast furnace slag cements (CEM III) have grown significantly in Europe within the last few years. II3AU HAMBURG is fully in line with this trend and offers advanced mechanical mixer. In this article, IBAU details some of its specific site mixing equipmen t for composite cement production and reports on recent case studies involving a silo mixer project, a terminal mixer installation and a complete mixing plant operation in Europe. Courtesy : International Cement Review Jan 2002, Pp 34-35. E-mail: info@ Cern. Net. couk Web site: CemNet. com. lVORKSHOP ON CONCRE fE ROADS AND INCREASED lJSC OF FLYASH/ B LEN DED C U\'1 C!': T S l N CONSTRUCTION National Council for Cement Building Materials Inaugurating the Workshop at Bangalore on 8th March, 2002 the Minister for PublicWorks, Govt. of Karnataka, Shri Dharam Singh sa id 66 maintenance free, result in fuel savings, are environment friendly and most importantly have longer life span as compared to bitumen roads. The other point that goes in favour of concrete roads is that these roads are built using indigenous materials unlike bitumen roads where the main component, bitumen, is obtail1ed almost exclusively from imported crude. Referring to the popular belief on the higher initial cost of concrete roads over that ofbitumil1ous, the Minister said that R&D and working results have dispelled this popular belief. With the use of fly ash, the Minister said, concrete roads will be economical even during the construction stage. While the State already has about 180km length of cement concrete road, the Mil1ister opined to explore the possibilities of extendil1g this length in future. The Minis ter shared the innovative steps initiated by the Karnataka Road Development Corporation Ltd (KRDCL) for construction of 19 fly-overs and 101 traffic Improvement Junctions in the city of Bangalore, using concrete. The Minister also indicated the construction of 9 bridges at an estima ted cost of Rs. 120 crore in the first phase. The Minister informed that the proposals from cement companies ih the State for cons truction of concrete road s on deferred/BOT basis are being examined. The Workshop was organised by National Council for Cement and Building Materials (NCB), an apex R&D organisa tion attached to the Ministry of Commerce & Industry, Government of India with technological support from the Cement Manufacturers' Association. More than 200 engineers I specialists from various Govt. departments \