Dr Raja Muzaffar Bhat
Few years back while traveling around Vidharb region of Maharashtara I saw concrete roads being constructed in many districts especially in Nagpur division. I remember around year 2000 when I was a college student and happened to go to Mumbai, I saw cement concrete being used in road construction. Initially I could not believe that the construction workers were using cement concrete for road construction but after visualizing it myself on famous Cadel Road , it made me believe that concrete material can be used for road construction as well. For more than 20 years a question would always come into my mind why the Jammu & Kashmir Government was not using cement concrete for road construction as the traditional Bitumen roads get damaged every year during winter snowfall with sub-zero temperature?
During last summer a 9 ½ kms road stretch from Bonyar to Goggee Pathri via Bonen Kutbal in Surasyar block of district Budgam was constructed under PMGSY. Locals told me it was a Rs 14 crore project. I could not cross check this as PMGSY J&K has no official website nor are DPR’s available on the respective district websites. People were overwhelmed when they saw Bitumen layers being spread on this village road and road roller leveling the same. Blacktopping of a road surface was happening for the first time on this road. People enjoyed the ride on this road surface for some months. This was only a short-lived enjoyment as the road got damaged during the January snowfall.The use of JCB’s to clear the snow from the road further damaged it as it created fissures and cracks on the road surface. Had the Government invested Rs 30 crore or more on this project, that would have ensured better durability of the road. With bitumen roads, there occurs a lot of water logging, while with cement concrete roads, the management of water logging is much better. The Bitumen roads are to be laid and repaired again and again almost every year after the winter season or post monsoon season across India owing to the damages incurred during the season, but cement concrete roads last long 30 to 40 years.
Road landscape
It has now become a trend to blacktop road surfaces without even scarifying the surface. This has destroyed the road landscape in almost all the areas of Srinagar and major towns. The boundary walls around residential houses located on main roads look short and shabby now as continuous bitumen layers have elevated most of the road surfaces. Scarifying is breaking up hard or compacted materials to create enough space for material to settle down. Just placing Bitumen filling material on a damaged road surface to fill the rutsand potholes is a temporary fix. The bitumen material does not bind in the ruts and potholes. This only increases the height of the road and makes the surrounding landscape shabby. The proper way to reshape the damaged road is to scarify the surface to the depth of the depressions.This breaks up all the compacted surrounding surface materials. After scarifying the material, the Bitumen can settle down properly. Cement concrete roads cannot be built at all unless the road surface is not scarified 2 to 3 feet deep. Thus concrete roads have this advantage. In J&K we can restore the lost glory of roads and surrounding landscape if concrete road projects are taken up. On pilot basis two stretches have been constructed in Srinagar from Iqbal park area to Rambagh bridge and around Pir Bagh area near Police Headquarters. I would suggest the Government take up more such projects next financial year in Jammu , Srinagar and other districts.
Advantages
Concrete roads have a long service life which can last between 35 to 40 years whereas roads made up of Bitumen last for around 10 years in areas with no snowfall , but in a place like Kashmir or Ladakh where the temperature drops down to sub-zero and there is heavy snowfall as well the roads get damaged within 2 to 3 years only. During the service life concrete roads do not require frequent repairs or patching work like macadamized roads. The vehicles that run over a concrete road, consumes 15-20 per cent less fuel as compared to roads made of asphalt -bitumen. This is because of the fact that a concrete road does not get deflected under the wheels of loaded heavy vehicles. During the processing of bitumen lots of toxic gases are emitted from these plants and subsequent less fuel consumption by the vehicle operating on a concrete road leads to little pollution as well. Bitumen is made from imported petroleum products which is the non -renewable source of energy. If we constantly use these products a day will come when these natural resources will be finished. On contrary to this concrete (cement) is produced from abundantly available limestone. Cement factories also lead to air pollution, but in comparison researchers say that concrete material is still better than bitumen.
Involve Hot-mix plant owners
On the basis of initial cost of pavement the Concrete Roads are reported to be around 15 to 16 % costlier than the Bituminous Roads, but on life cycle cost basis the cement concrete roads, due to their long life of 35 to 40 years and better durability, the concrete roads are estimated to be around 25-30% cheaper when compared with Bitumen roads. On the long term basis cement concrete roads are actually more economical. To compensate the hot-mix plant owners who have invested a lot in setting up of these plants in J&K, the Government must involve them in construction of cement concrete roads so that their economic interests are also safeguarded.
Gadkari on concrete roads
Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari in 2017 said all the roads in the country would be converted into cement-concrete to ensure their stability and durability. During a function he had said that cement concrete roads built 20 years ago in Mumbai are still in good shape but some political leaders, bureaucrats and contractors were against concrete roads. Gadkari said that cement concrete roads would last for 200 years. The minister was speaking while inaugurating ‘Prawaas 2017’-India International Bus and Car Travel Show in Mumbai on July 29th 2017. In-fact Gadkari has ensured construction of concrete roads in nook and corner of Nagpur as he seems to be the biggest proponent of these roads.
Conclusion
This season’s harsh winter taught us many lessons. Most of our road surfaces in Kashmir and even in many places in Jammu division have been damaged . Even roads blacktopped last summer have been damaged.Huge waterlogging and potholes can be seen everywhere. Jammu & Srinagar cities are messed up due to bad roads. The Government without wasting any time must start construction of cement concrete roads in J&K so that taxpayer’s money is not wasted every year on the bitumen roads.
(The author is Founder & Chairman of Jammu & Kashmir RTI Movement)
feedbackexcelsior@gmail.com
Follow our WhatsApp channel
