To increase the usage of natural rubber, United Planters Association of Southern India (Upasi) has urged the Centre to consider rubberised bitumen on roads while constructing highways.

Upasi representatives made this suggestion to Nitin Gadkari, Minister of Road Transport & Highways, when they met him at New Delhi.

According to Upasi, the use of natural rubber in road construction could play the dual roles of providing long-term stability to the roads and help farmers to improve the price earnings through increased domestic consumption at a time when their earnings have been gravely affected.

With the increased thrust given by the Government in improving road infrastructure, N.Dharmaraj, UPASI President said that there is huge potential for use of rubberised bitumen in road laying and the attempts made in the past have shown very encouraging results.

Proper blending of bitumen with rubber in a fixed proportion confers good elastic recovery of the blend and the rubberised bitumen is found to be an excellent binder for the rubble and sand. Moreover, the bitumen is proven to be unaffected by the changes in the atmospheric temperature and improve skid resistance, he said, adding that BPCL-Kochi Refineries has sufficient capacity for making rubberised bitumen.

The advantage of using rubber modified bitumen in road construction includes increase in service life of roads, improved resistance to cracks at low temperature, better resistance to fatting of bitumen under hot conditions, improved skid resistance, increased fuel economy and better grip.

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