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A catwalk with a difference

Our Bureau

BANGALORE, Dec. 14

EXCON 2000 continued to attract visitors with interesting gimmicks from OEMs (Original Equipment Manufacturers). While the Volvo Excavator played basketball, the L&T-Komatsu machines played merry-go-round. The L&T-Komatsu excavator also demonstrated its 360-degree turn facility.

Thursday was marked by launches at Excon. Tata-Hitachi launched its EX65, a mini excavator, which can be used in any terrain, from marshes to plantations. Easily adaptable to any task, the mini excavator has attachments such as rock breaker, single point ripper and ripper buckets. Meanwhile, Tata-Hitachi's excavators demonstrated offset trenching wherein parallel trenches can be dug simultaneously.

Bharat Earth Movers Ltd (BEML) also joined the launch bandwagon, with its new BE 60 hydraulic excavator. This excavator is ideal for deployment in construction projects, municipal works, forest clearance and urban infrastructure. The public sector major has also put on display its wheeled excavators, hydraulic excavators, bulldozers, motor graders, rear dumpers and backhoe loaders.

Ingersoll Rand's Bobcat, another skid steer loader, comes in 10 different models with 35 attachments for various applications, including levelling, grading, auguring and trenching. Its hydrostatic sensor paver is used to spread asphalt and can cover up t o five-and-a-half metres at one go. The laser sensors can also decide the thickness of the asphalt to be laid.

At the seminar session on financing options in the construction equipment industry, Mr Hemant Kanoria, Managing Director, Srei International Finance, said the industry had been largely unorganised and highly dependent on manual labour and plagued by low levels of mechanisation. However, this was changing with emerging opportunities, he said.

Mr. Kanoria said Srei had taken the initiative and formed the Indian Infrastructure Equipment Ltd to offer equipment banking.

Some of the other topics covered were tax implications in financing, information technology and equipment finance enabled and innovative options in equipment finance.

`Equipment banks,

need of the hour'

On Wednesday, the focus of Excon 2000 was the technology seminar, where a host of issues plaguing the industry were taken up.

Dr G.V. Ramakrishna, Chairman, Construction Industry Development Council, in his inaugural address, highlighted the need to set up construction equipment banks, so that equipment which was expensive could be used even by small contractors. This would ena ble the contractors to get trained workers and hi-tech machines.

He said that with scarce State Government's finances, several infrastructure projects had not taken off.

In the technical session, Mr S.K. Verma, General Manager, National Highways Authority of India, spoke about road infrastructure in the 21st century. He highlighted the prospect of four-laning the Golden Quadrilateral and four/six-laning the North-South a nd East-West corridors.

Mr J.P. Nayak, Vice-President, Larsen and Toubro, said that the disparities in customs duty structures should be removed and demanded a concessional duty for the import of mechanical shovels and excavators. He stressed the need for enforcement of the un iform VAT in States.