Business Line 09.10.2013
ACC brings road repair solution to Chennai
fast-setting concrete for repairing bitumen and concrete roads to get
them ready for traffic within a day of repair.
Addressing officials of ChennaiCorporation after a
demonstration of the new product, Anil Banchhor, Chief
Executive-Concrete Business, ACC Ltd, said roads repaired with Ultra
Thin White Topping can be opened for traffic within 24 hours.
Mumbai-headquartered ACC Concrete has seen good
adoption of its new product in the city, where 10 per cent of roads
under construction use UTWT.
The solution can be used in air pavement repairs, bridge
deck repairs, and reconstructions in loading docks and port-related
work.
Though the costs of laying bitumen roads are lower by 15
per cent, their lifecycle and maintenance costs are higher in
comparison to the new method.
Input costs
Banchhor said the products’ roll out comes at a time of
rising input costs: “Railway freight costs have increased, and so have
prices of diesel. So, our input costs are on an uptrend. But, we have
not seen any slump in demand.”
Avijit Chaubey, Head-Research and Development, says the
concrete sets fast, and requires planning to make sure the mixture does
not harden on the way to the work site.
Abrasives may be needed in some cases to reduce the degree of slipperiness.
The company has launched two more products for road
repair — Speedcrete and Supercoat — for overlay operations. It recently
tried these on Mumbai roads.
