'Plastic' roads: PWD plays spoilsport

Greeshma Gopal Giri,TNN | Mar 1, 2014, 12.19 AM IST

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KOCHI: Despite providing assurance on using plastic granules for relaying roads, the Clean Kerala Company (CKC) is unable to take the project forward as the PWD has not yet released the list of roads that would be relaid using the technology, which is expected to strengthen and increase the longevity of roads. Though the state government had given an assurance to initiate steps to incorporate changes in the PWD manual to facilitate the use of plastic granules while relaying and constructing roads owned by local bodies, this has remained on paper.

"Many local bodies, including the Kochi corporation, have expressed willingness to use plastic granules for road construction. Though the corporation announced projects in the budget to relay roads using bitumen macadam and bitumen concrete (bm&bc) process, nothing was mentioned on the use of plastic granules. This is because the PWD manual has not been amended," said a senior corporation official.

The state government issued an order facilitating the use of plastic in July 2013. The order stated that agencies engaged in road construction such as PWD, LSG bodies, forest department, etc may use shredded plastic for road construction as per the guidelines issued by the National Rural Road Development Agency (NRRDA) until suitable amendments are made to the PWD manual.

While the state government had authorized the Kerala Highway Research Institute (KHRI) and the Central Road Research Institute (CRI) to conduct a study and submit a report on using plastic and reducing the use of bitumen in road construction, these agencies have not submitted the report.

However, CKC managing director Kabeer B Harron said that the issue has been taken up before PWD minister V K Ibrahim Kunju. "The minister has assured that he would take steps to speed up the process of listing roads that have to be relaid using plastic granules. He has also promised to take up the task of amending the PWD manual," he said.