Financial Daily from THE HINDU group of publications
Friday, Dec 31, 2004
Financial Daily from THE HINDU group of publications Friday, Dec 31, 2004 |
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Industry & Economy
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Infrastructure Call to use geosynthetics for infrastructure development Our Bureau
Visakhapatnam , Dec. 30 GEOSYNTHETIC products have to be used extensively in India too, as in the US and Europe, for infrastructure development. Academic institutions such as the Andhra University have to play a crucial role in disseminating information about the technologies, Dr Anand J. Puppala, Associate Professor, University of Texas, said. He was delivering a lecture on Thursday in the university on recent developments in infrastructure in a one-day seminar organised by the Department of Civil Engineering. He said geopolymers and geotextiles could be produced using natural gas as the feedstock and there were a few companies in the country in the sector. "Geosynthetics are more durable, stronger and easy to handle. There has to be technology transfer on a large scale, if the country has to make rapid strides in using geosynthetics," he said. Geomembranes, in particular, could be very useful in constructing landfills and groundwater contamination could be curbed by using them, he said. For lining the canals and reducing seepage also, geomembranes would be of immense use. "Of course, the initial costs will be somewhat on the higher side. But taking into account the long-term benefits these products would have to be used," he said. He also stressed on the deep mixing technology. "It will be of great use in seismic mitigation. Fortunately, Visakhapatnam has escaped the fury of tsunami. I shudder to contemplate what would have happened to the beach-front apartments, had it been otherwise," he said. He said there was no alternative to seismic retrofitting, as in Japan and the US, for all high-rise buildings. Prof. Krishna Rao, Department of Civil Engineering, said quake-proof construction technologies and material would have to be used even in areas not considered seismologically vulnerable.
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