By 2025, CDE Asia will be substituting 100 million tons out of 900 million tonnes of sand through other means so that construction companies can reduce their dependence on river sand and natural sand says Manish Bhartia, MD & Promoter, CDE Asia Ltd.

Why does the sand problem exist and how did we get here in the first place?
The utilisation of sand as a resource is much ahead of coal, energy and oil. In India, the illegal extraction of sand accounts, per year, is about $ 2.3 billion, according to a survey published by the Times of India Likewise according to “The Illegal Extraction of Sand in Brazil and in the World”, a Global Financial Integrity – GFI/Study by Luis Fernando Ramadon, illegal sand extraction accounts for the third largest global crime.

India needs around 900 million tonnes of sand every year in order to grow at the level we are growing and at the current level; we are also consuming 150 kg sand per person as compared to the Western world, which consumes 500 kg sand per person. So, if we want to realize the American dream then we need to consume four times more sand. And this amount of sand is not available in Indian rivers and if you try to extract it then there will be consequences on human lives. To counter this, the Government of India has taken a proactive step by banning illegal abstraction of sand from rivers. The illegal sand mining has been banned by the Supreme Court of India and National Green Tribunal (NGT).

Could you shed some light on artificial sand and the processes involved in it? When it comes to the natural process of making sand, it is produced when a big piece of rock gets dislodged into the mountains and it rolls into the river and it gets crushed into small pieces of granules step by step and it becomes sand. Same process of crushing a big rock into smaller particles is done by machine and then our patented technology scientifically grades it into different fractions and removes the excessive ultra-fine materials, so that the building community can use this sand to make concrete. Artificial sand or Manufactured Sand is cheaper and superior substitute to natural riverine sand.  CDE advanced sand production techniques ensures sand is free from adulteration and impurities and is proven to reduce the consumption of cement in concrete.

We also follow another process to make artificial sand and it is even more attractive. CDE Asia takes all the construction waste from the cities and converts it into the sand. We are also using dredge material from dams, ports and lakes and using it as a resource to create construction sand. By 2030, we will be substituting 100 million tons out of 900 million tonnes of sand through alternative sustainable means so that construction companies can reduce their dependence on river sand.

According to you, what will be the role of technology and the new normal post-2020?
CDE Asia was one of the first companies in our industry to integrate technology into systems. It provides real-time monitoring systems for our customers, real-time data from the project site and it integrates with customers’ existing software if needed.

Another part I would like to highlight is sustainability. The construction sector is booming and the number of road contracts has been awarded this year has been the highest ever in our history. We will continue to promote and invent clean & environmentally sound technologies using the patented Combo platform for sand processing. Combo is patented platform that combines feeding, grading, washing, water recycling and stockpiling onto one compact chassis.

Combo is an eco-friendly, zero waste technology that doesn’t pollute the environment.  There is no loss of sand during processing and even the silt produced as a by-product can be converted to bricks. Some Salient features are:

• 95 per cent water recycled
• Zero liquid discharge
• Zero dust pollution
• Noise level below 80db

What is your take on the manufactured sand industry?
It is very disheartening to see that a major part of manufactured sand in the market is spurious and unprocessed crusher dust. It has not been washed and graded following correct processes and as a result of this customers are getting short changed. Manufactured sand has to be standardized and in the next quarter or so, CDE Asia will be attempting to standardize the sand market and will bring out new tech solutions for the customers.

Where do you stand on the ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat’ initiative launched by the government?
CDE Asia is completely ‘Atmanirbhar’ (self-reliant) and we have zero supply of Chinese parts or supply in our equipment. This initiative will help the industry and we had taken the initiative a few years back and indigenized our supply parts. Out of national pride and making our company resilient we are constantly focusing on developing local supply chains for key components.