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To increase the usage of natural rubber, the United Planters Association of Southern India (Upasi) has urged the Centre to consider rubber bituminised roads for the future construction of national highways.
Upasi representatives made this suggestion to Nitin Gadkari, Road Transport & Highways Minister, when they met him at New Delhi.
According to Upasi, the use of natural rubber in road construction could play the dual role of providing long-term stability to roads and help farmers improve price earnings through increased domestic consumption.
With the government giving road infrastructure a thrust, N Dharmaraj, Upasi President, said that there is huge potential for use of rubberised bitumen in road laying and 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 changes in the atmospheric temperature and can improve skid resistance, he said.
The BPCL-Kochi Refinery has sufficient capacity to make rubberised bitumen, he added.
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