The Hindu Business Line : When roads take to jute

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Chennai March 5 Jute road. Not jhoot, but sach mein, as a box item in `India Infrastructure Report 2007' informs. "Jute Geo-Textile (JGT) is a natural technical textile laid in or on soil to improve its engineering properties. JGT is made out of yarn obtained from the jute plant," explains the report of 3iNetwork on `rural infrastructure,' from Oxford (www.oup.com) .

JGT has many advantages. "It has high moisture absorption capacity, excellent drapability, and high initial tensile strength. It is environment-friendly, biodegradable, easily available, and economical."

Plus, "Use of JGT leads to natural consolidation of sub-grade soil and has a potential to enhance the CBR (California bearing ratio) value of the sub-grade by 1.5 to 3 times."

Cost-wise the jute option achieves savings, in varied measures.

For instance, JGT cost Rs 140 lakh for one of the pilot projects, a 5.1-km approach road from Berasia to Semrakalan in Madhya Pradesh; the conventional cost would have been a lakh more.

At times, the savings are substantial. The Notuk to Dingal road, in West Bengal, another JGT pilot running to 4.8 km — cost Rs 188 lakh, as against a conventional cost of Rs 243 lakh.

These are two of the ten pilots, all adding to nearly 50 km, in four States. The NRRDA (National Rural Roads Development Agency) is executing the projects in collaboration with the JMDC (Jute Manufacturers Development Council), and in technical consultation with the CRRI (Central Road Research Institute). On an average the JGT road is estimated to cost Rs 37 lakh per km, compared to Rs 42 lakh per km for a non-JGT one.

Interestingly, the use of JGT is said to date back to as early as the 1920s. "It was tried in some sections of a road at Dundee in Scotland. It was also used in a major road in Calcutta by the British in 1934."

JMDC's site www.jute.com speaks of how extensive environmental works were undertaken in France using JGT, `including rehabilitating mine dumps, restoring the Rhone river banks and vegetating high altitude steep slopes at the Winter Olympic ski jump in Savoie... '