Indian government will use cement instead of bitumen for all new road projects across India. Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari, stated that, the plans are to achieve an average road-building capacity of 30 km per day in the next two years. Reports also suggests that the ministry is planning to revive the sluggish cement industry also will restart four out of the seven closed public sector cement plants as part of its aim to reduce prices and obtain cement at a cost of around Rs.160 – 170 per bag (compared to the proposed rate of Rs.350 per bag).
According to ministry officials, detailed reports will be carried out to assess the project cost of using cement. The projects will be evaluated on the basis of the life cycle cost of the project (including maintenance costs), rather than by using just the cost of construction. Cement will be used for all new projects, as long as the cost of construction of a concrete road is not more than 20% higher than that of a road constructed using bitumen, said the officials.
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