Posted on October 24, 2018
An alternative to natural sand, the new eco-friendly manufactured sand is set to be a game-changer in realty sector
With sand excavation operations becoming difficult with every passing day due to cumbersome procedure, environmental concern and bitter fight among sand ghat contractors leading to acute shortage of natural sand, a new eco-friendly alternative of manufactured sand (M-sand) has emerged as the game changer for realty sector.
Currently, large number of legal proceedings are on about auctioning of sand ghats and in many cases, the status quo has been ordered due to which sand ghat operations have come to a grind halt.
The new and innovative machinery devised by a UK-based company machinery company CDE collects small dust particles from mines, stone quarries and crushing sites, which is then used as a main raw ingredient to make the manufactured sand. This M-sand can easily replace the natural raw sand used in concrete and act as a viable long term option in construction work.
There are lot of construction activities and infrastructure projects in and around Nagpur being executed from government as well as top private companies. Due to recent impetus to developmental works and construction activities including commercial, residential and infrastructure, has directly pushed the demands of sand by many folds in recent times. Since the demand is higher than the supply, it has resulted in an acute shortage of sand, affecting the construction activities badly and many of these projects have been stalled or remains incomplete.
According to a recent study conducted by a rating agency, 75 per cent of all central infrastructure projects in the country are either delayed or lack a definitive timeline causing a financial burden of around Rs 2 lakh crore. One of the main reasons for such delays is, shortage of construction materials, particularly sand which as per a scientific study constitutes more than 28 per cent of all materials used in any form of construction.
The sand shortage coupled with the State Government’s ban on sand mining has given rise to illegal sand mining activities around the city and other parts in the State. The illicit sand dredging from the river beds has raised environmental concerns as it is causing ecological imbalance.
According to experts, one of the ways to deal with this menace is leveraging technology that can substitute the natural sand, stop the unlawful mining in the rivers, protect the environment and also help to reduce construction costs and delays.
The manufacturers of M-sand have claimed that quality of manufactured sand matches the prescribed standard set by the Bureau of Indian Standard (BIS) and there is no compromise in terms of quality and strength of the concrete prepared with M-sand.
In fact, the machinery also helps in collecting concrete debris at the construction sites and then through a technological process, the debris are converted into a form of recycled sand. This mechanism helps builders and contractors to deal with the concrete waste and re-use it in construction.
Source: The Hitavada
