CEE Oct-Dec 2002

I I ROADS AND RURAL DEVELOPMENT PROJECTS . . I TO BOOST CEMENT DEMAND At the 41 " Annual Session of Ce ment Manufac turers' Association. held in New Delhi on 3'd Octobe r 2002, both Union Ministers for Rural Development and Road Transp01t & Highways lauded cement industry on its impressive growth in the past year and held out hopes of a boost in demand starting with the launch of the X Fi ve-Year Plan. ' Pilot Projects - Key to ultimate rural cement concrete roads' De Iiveri ng the Inaugural Address on the occasion, Shri Shanta Kumar, Un ion Minister for Rural Deve lopment, complimented cement industry fo r being almost totall y (95 per ce nt and more) indigenous and for generating vast emp loyment in rural areas. He poin ted out th e importance of infras tru ct ure for Nationa l deve lopment and the paramount place of roads therein. Since rural development hinged on good road connectivity for villages. he added the ambitious Pradhan Mantri Grarnin Sadak Yojana (PMGSY) had been launched , under which road connectivity to nearest National Highways was to be provided to 1, 60,000 villages on top priority, before 2007. As the greatest programme ever launched for the development ofvillages, this would entail building 3.0 to 3.5 lakh km roads with an outlay ofRs. 700 crore, which worked out to 200 krn per day on an average. In this connection Shri Shanta Kumar informed, his Ministry had evolved a Pilot Project of constructi ng three stretches of roads with cement concrete in every State, totalling 200 km, to appraise the viability of this option, especially since cement concrete roads performed superior to bitumen roads in rural terrains, though costlier. In this Pilot Project, the Ministry would bear 15 per cent of the additional cost over and above the estimated cost of bitumen road , while the rest would be borne by H1e Department of Industrial Po li cy and Promot ion of the Slm Shamo Ku111ar. 1/on 'h/e Unum AIIIIIS/erfor Nural DevelofJJI/e/1/, delivering 1he lnuugural : lddress 12 Mini stry of Commerce and Industry. Shri Shanta Kumar urged completion of the Pilot Projects at top speed, for their success would c li nch the choi ce of cement concrete for rural roads. In this context he reiterated hi s own conviction as also that of Major General B. C. Khanduri in favou r of cement concrete roads. All in all. the potential for cement industry, under the circumstances could well be imagined, reminded Shri Shanta Kumar. 'Make cement-concrete option favourable on all counts ' Major General B.C. Khanduri, Minister of State ( Independent Charge), Mini stry of Road Transport and Highways, referred to the unp recedented attent ion cur rent ly bei ng paid to road construction in the country and the huge quantities of cement that would be required over the coming years for the amb itious Gold en Quadrilateral and the North- South, Eas t-West co rridors. However, considerin g th e hi ghe r cost of cement concrete roads vis-a-vis bi tumen roads, he wanted th e cemen t indu stry to create an environment where in road bu ilders wou ld be enco uraged to use cement, like through assured supply at reasonable price, proper quali ty and so on. Failing which, the road bui lders would be fo rced to switch to the earl ier opt ion to bu ild grea ter road lengths at lesser cost using a more readil y avai lable material - and th is despite the convict ion of the superiori ty of cement concrete r· \ \