Since the Indian government has taken an initiative, putting emphasis on making more only concrete roads in the future, we take a look at the demand and growth the concrete industry is about to face. The pros and cons of concrete roads and whether the Indian industry is well positioned to gain market share from the desired industry growth.

Pros
Taking a look at the pros of concrete roads, Prashanth Kumar, Executive Director, Sicoma Mixers India Pvt Ltd says, “Concrete roads are more durable when compared to asphalt roads. Its life span is almost twice compared to asphalt, especially in a country like India where there is harsh rainfall. Rain water easily seeps into broken asphalt road surfaces and can cause irreparable damage to the surface. This is very clearly evident from the fact that after every monsoon we see pothole filling exercises by local municipalities and authorities. This damage can be very rapid if the quality of asphalting is sub-par, where as concrete roads can withstand this abuse from harsh rainfall. It doesn’t rut out easily as asphalt.”

Concrete roads offer less rolling resistance compared to asphalt. Even though laying concrete roads is more expensive, but the life to cost ratio will always be better with concrete roads. Concrete roads are very solid, weather resistant easy to maintain in one word long lasting.

Anand Sundaresan, Vice Chairman and Managing Director, Schwing Stetter (India) Pvt Ltd points out, “The concrete roads are definitely stronger, long lasting and require less maintenance. Besides this while building concrete roads, all the underground utilities, which are  in this array, are unearthed and channelised and laid very systematically, so maintenance of utilities like water line cables are easy. Mumbai Municipal Corporation built many concrete roads many years ago and even today most of them are in very good condition in spite of heavy rains in Mumbai.”

Cons
Talking about the cons of concrete road, Kumar says, “Asphalt roads are much quieter than concrete because asphalt is smoother than concrete. So you will still see residential neighbourhood streets paved with asphalt.”  The side effects also include high noise development and high tire wear.

Future opportunities
Indian government has initiated a very good move by putting emphasis on making concrete roads. This big move by the government is well received by the industry in general. Building concrete roads have been one of the major thrusts by the current union government. This will give a lot of opportunities to concrete equipment manufacturing industries connected with concrete such as batching plants, pavers, mixers etc. This was much needed for the strained concrete equipment manufacturing industry.

Kumar says, “As for Sicoma India, the Indian government’s initiative of making concrete roads is a very good opportunity to offer our highly advanced concrete mixers meant for concrete road construction.”

Highlighting the initiative, Sundaresan says, “Undoubtedly the initiative by the Indin government to make more and more concrete roads is a welcome decision. We are major suppliers of concrete batching plants for these projects. So it offers huge opportunity for our bigger capacity batching plants, besides few concrete pumps and transit mixers. Almost all the road projects in India are using our equipment for the road Jobs.”

The concrete road project will give the concrete machine manufacturing industry a lot of opportunities in producing the concrete batching plants, transporting the concrete transit mixers and distributing the concrete pumps.
Wilfried A Theissen, Managing Director, Putzmeister Concrete Machines Pvt Ltd says, “We at Putzmeister have the entire range of products for the concrete road project and so we can offer turnkey solutions to our customers, builders and investors.”

Are you ready for the industry growth?
When asked if the industry to all set to gain the market share from the desired industry growth put forth by the government, Kumar says, “We currently enjoy a good market share in concrete mixers. We are reasonably well placed to cater to any surge in market requirement. We have made significant additional investments in India to meet the country’s demands in the coming years when it comes to concrete mixers.”

In this regard Sundaresan proudly boasts, “Yes we are the largest producer of concreting equipment in the country, with an overall market share of over 65 per cent, and in certain products even higher than that.  Looking at these opportunities, we are gearing up ourselves so that we don’t lose market share.”

Putzmeister is also ready for the desired industry growth, Theissen says, “Since we have not only the equipment but we also have the expertise and know how to help our customer to improve their processes on the job sides.”

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We have the entire range of products for the concrete road project so we can offer turnkey solutions to our customers, builders and investors.

Wilfried A Theissen,
Managing Director,
Putzmeister Concrete Machines Pvt Ltd

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Our government’s initiative of making concrete roads is a very good opportunity to offer highly advanced concrete mixers meant for concrete road construction.

Prashanth Kumar,
Executive Director,
Sicoma Mixers India Pvt Ltd