Chennai gets into act to relay roads with plastic wastes

Come Wednesday, the Chennai Corporation has its task cut out – collection of plastic wastes from the residents, which could be reused for relaying main and interior roads.

Taking forward of Dr Vasudevan, Dean ECA & Prof. Department of Chemistry of Thiagarajar College of Engineering, Madurai’s invention of ‘plastic road technology’, the corporation has announced Wednesdays being 'Plastic Collection Day' in the city starting from February 22. 

Road relayed using plastic wastes

Every Wednesday conservancy staff on tricycles, would come door-to-door and collect garbage, will specifically ask for plastic waste, especially thin carry bags and covers in which commodities such as pulses and condiments are packaged, for use in laying roads.

Roads using plastic mixed with bitumen are not only stronger and durable, but also cost-effective and environment friendly.

“We have also made arrangements to collect plastics from students of Chennai Schools and private schools. A few private schools, including Velammal group and Alpha group have already agreed to create awareness among their students and ask them to bring plastics that civic body conservancy staff would collect on Wednesdays. We want 100 tonnes of plastic every week,” said a senior official told Hindu. 

Since January 5, when the laying of plastic-coated bituminous roads began, the civic body has been urging residents to hand over segregated plastic waste to conservancy workers at their doorstep. Special bins, particularly for plastic waste, were installed in all 200 wards.

"We are getting more plastic than we did a few weeks earlier, but we require a lot more," said commissioner P W C Davidar. The commissioner stressed the need for good quality, thin plastic. "We need plastic that is 40 microns thick, which in layman's terms means carry bags," he said.

S.Alfred Devaprasad, president, Alpha Group of Institutions said, “School and college students are going to be a part of this. We are coining slogans and be putting up posters in our institutions. After eight weeks prizes would be given to classes that collect the largest quantity of plastic.” 

MVM Velmurugan, CEO of Velammal Educational Trust said, “Children would come forward willingly to participate and bring in plastic waste in large amounts if the purpose is explained properly to them. It is in the interest of the environment and the society. Our trust's 10 schools would take the responsibility of collecting plastics from 30 neighbouring schools.” 

Having set a target of 800 tonnes of plastic material to lay 370 km of roads at a cost of Rs 110 crore, the Corporation is looking at various options, including collecting plastic waste from manufacturers. Around 8-10 per cent of shredded plastic is blended with the bitumen to lay roads.

Of the 78 km of bus route roads and 292 km of interior roads, the Corporation has so far laid 6 km of BRR and 11 km of interior roads due to unavailability of plastic.  Though the civic body had floated tenders for plastic wastes, sources said that it was not happy with the response. 

The civic body has been buying plastic at 20 per kg from private manufacturers. “Each time the participating companies seem to be quoting higher rates for shredded plastics. So instead we are trying to make the residents give plastic waste that they usually throw away. We are getting shredders for every zone so that the plastic could be made into pellets at the zonal level itself,” the official said.

Residents who have large amount of plastics can also send email to plasticwaste@chennaicorporation.gov.in. The civic body is also taking across the message through electronic media and other means of communication.

India's industrial production to grow by 7.4% in FY13

Mumbai: The country's industrial production is expected to grow by 7.4 percent in fiscal 2013 as against the forecast of 5.1 percent for 2012, Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE) said in its monthly review. The industrial production growth stood at 8.2 percent in 2011.

The manufacturing sector is expected to witness a healthy growth of 6.5 percent in fiscal 2013, against forecast of 4.9% in FY 12, CMIE said, reports PTI, adding, this growth would be driven by over 10 percent rise in production of motor vehicles and other transport equipment, machinery, basic metals and wearing apparels India GDP growth.

Rising corporate salaries, increase in rural income, softening of interest rates, improvement in availability of finance, new models and expansion of dealers network could boost passenger cars production by 13.1 percent in FY 13, the report added.

Production of MUVs, two-wheelers and three-wheelers is also expected to grow by around 10 percent. This will lead to higher demand and production in auto ancillary category.

Huge capacity additions in the industrial and infrastructural construction segment and increase in production of automobiles and machinery is also expected to generate higher demand for basic metals in FY 13, CMIE said in a statement.

The mining industry, which saw a stagnation in FY 12, is expected to grow by a healthy 5.6 percent next year.

Thailand looks for its share in Indian retail sector

India’s burgeoning retail sector and government’s decision to open up overseas investment to augment further growth has made many economies, developed and developing,  to vie for their pie in the US$ 550 billion market. ASEAN member Thailand too is looking at various opportunities to invest in India. 

According Adul Chotinisakorn, executive director of the Thai Trade Center in Mumbai, Thai companies should invest in single-brand retail businesses and construction in India while sourcing raw materials for seafood and jewellery industries.

“As India recently approved 100% FDI in single-brand retail businesses, Thai operators such as the Black Canyon cafe{aac} chain and Naraya, the manufacturer and distributor of NaRaYa fabric bags and accessories, could reap full benefits from investing in India,” he says. However, New Delhi has not yet granted the same privilege to multi-brand retail businesses.

ASEAN and Indian markets are booming due to trade and investment potential. Apart from its sheer size of 1.2 billion people, the India market is an ideal sources of several raw materials.

For instance, southern India can supply squid for the Thai seafood industry while there are also abundant supplies of precious stones there. As well, Surat in the western Gujarat State is one of the world's diamond-cutting centres, Bangkok Post quoting Adul as saying.

The Indian government plans to invest $45 billion on infrastructure development over the next five years, opening up numerous opportunities for Thai construction companies to work in India. Currently, Italian-Thai Development Plc has presence in the country.

About 200 million Indians have high purchasing power and real estate developments are now popular in the country, creating opportunities for Thai developers. Pruksa Real Estate Development Plc has already entered the market.

But for Thai consumer products, the potential might not be as strong because low-income Indians tend to buy cheaper locally made goods. For instance, Thai instant noodle is priced at 26 rupees each, compared with five for local brands. Similarly, Thai fruit juice producers cannot compete with the giant multinational Tropicana which has a factory in India.

Thailand has set a target for 10% growth in exports to India to US$6.2 billion this year. Two-way trade was $8.19 billion last year, up 23.29% from 2010. Thai exports increased 17.93% to $5.18 billion while imports rose 33.73% to $3.01 billion in 2011.

Srirat Rastapana, director-general of Trade Negotiations Department, says talks on the bilateral free trade area agreement with India have reached common grounds on rules of origin and customs procedures were concluded.

Both sides agreed on the economic cooperation on creative economy, tourism, science and technology, infrastructure development and construction. They would also help each other in upgrading small and medium-sized enterprises and health care.