Road construction could undergo major transformation with thrust on technology innovation and use of alternative building materials. The Ministry of Road, Highways and Transport is planning to hold consultations with stakeholders on this issue.
“We plan to improve road designing, while also bringing down construction cost, using alternate road building material. So far, new technologies and use of different building material could not receive desired response from project engineers, designers and consultants,” said Vijay Chibber, secretary, MoRTH at a Press conference.
“The Ministry will look at ways to adopte and promote the use of these alternate materials, which will be cheap and sturdy and add to the infra-growth story,” he said. Chibber admitted that there was a definite technology lag between India and other geographies. “We are looking at encouraging new technology within this year for our new plans.”
He said that the idea behind bringing in modern technology for road construction is mainly to decrease cost of construction. “We are (also) looking at bringing the maintenance cost down,” he added.
Citing examples of private companies which build road projects in India and other countries, Chibber said, “The same companies which build roads in other countries do better job because they have the freedom to design and build those highways as per latest technologies.”
He said that the companies here have to follow a defined pattern set by the Government which is many years old. “(Road) designing is a crucial issue. Private companies want to go ahead (with the use of latest technologies) but our systems have held them back. We want to unshackle them,” he added.
The secretary said that the Indian Academy of Highway Engineers (IAHE), the apex organisation in the country for the training of highway professionals, on behalf of the Ministry of Road, Transport and Highways will organise a workshop-cum-exhibition on ‘Adoption of Innovative technologies and materials for Road Construction in India’ on February 20-21.
“The aim of the workshop is also to provide a platform to developers and promoters to showcase innovative materials and technologies with a view to encourage their adoption in use of design, construction, maintenance, operation and management of road,” he said.