The Heavy Industries and Road Ministries are working on a mechanism to rope in Cement Corporation of India (CCI) for road projects. CCI is the only cement company in the public sector.

As the Road Ministry has plans to use concrete to replace bitumen in road construction, the effort is to go in for long-term contracts with cement manufacturers, including CII, a Central PSU, and private companies.

“It will be a win-win situation as the Cement Corporation will get a large order, while road projects will have assured supply from a Government-owned company,” a senior Heavy Industries Ministry official said. It is yet to be finalised how much cement will be required for road projects.

Cement is a key component of the concrete mix to be used in road construction. It is estimated that the cost of construction based on concrete mix is roughly 10-15 per cent higher than bitumen. However, the advantage is in terms of longevity and lower maintenance cost. More use of cement in road construction will also lower import of bitumen and encourage domestic production, in line with the Government’s focus on ‘Make in India.’

According to the presentation in infrastructure made before the Prime Minister, a total road length of 8,500 km is to be targeted during the this fiscal, while the target for completion has been set at 6,300 km.

The Finance Ministry, in the Budget, provided an investment of ₹37,880 crore in National Highways Authority of India and State roads.

The official said earlier that the Heavy Industries Ministry had proposed that the Road Ministry should take CCI under its wings, but the proposal was declined. Then the Road Ministry offered assistance for CCI so that it could provide cement. However, he admitted that CCI will need to match the price, as determined through internationally competitive bidding.

Once the proposal is finalised, this will be good deal for the once ‘sick’ CCI, which is now out of red and is earning profits since 2006-07. Originally, it had 10 plants, but now has three working ones (Bokanjan in Assam, Tandur in Andhra Pradesh and Rajbhan in Himachal Pradesh). According to its Website, CCI at present produces five brands.

It plans to further diversify its products by manufacturing Railway sleepers, electric poles and ready mix concrete. Joint ventures for this purpose will also be explored, besides technology upgradation of the plant in the South and expansion of the Assam plant.

The company also plans to set up new capacities of economic size that is more than one million tonne a year at its operating units.

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