Govt may look at using cement for expressways

Transport Minister Kamal Nath on Thursday said the government may look at using cement for constructing over 18,000 km of expressways in the country.

"It would be appropriate to look at (building) expressways with cement, concrete as these will be greenfield projects," Nath said.

He said concrete can also be used on roads, where wear and tear is high. However, cement would not be used for upgrading the existing bitumen roads. "We are not going to use cement where there are bitumen roads already," he said. Nath also said he has called a meeting of all state Transport Ministers next month to look at amending the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988, though he did not give specifics of the draft amendments.

The Act defines norms for speed limits and permissible loads that trucks can carry, among others. He was speaking at a seminar organised by industry chamber CII on Concrete Highway Projects. ACC Ltd managing director Sumit

Banerjee, while delivering the inaugural address to the seminar, said concrete roads are durable, maintenance-free for 20-30 years and have a life of up to 50 years.

Concrete roads offer 15-20 per cent economy in fuel consumption and 10-15 per cent in vehicle running costs compared to bitumen ones," Banerjee said.

The government has recently concluded a study for constructing 18,650 km of expressways.