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Highways development:
Design, construction, operation
and repairs
The Institution of
Engineers (India) UP State Centre,
Lucknow & The Indian Concrete
Institute, UP Allahabad Centre,
Allahabad are organising an all
India seminar on 'Highways development:
Design, construction, operation
and repairs' and 'Concrete Day celebrations
- 2008' on November 16 & 17,
2008, at Lucknow.
Infrastructure facilities
are being developed in the country
in a big way. These are necessary
to take the country forward, as
an industrially developed nation.
It is planned that in the next six
years, India will spend as much
as Rs. 6,200 billion on infrastructure.
For constructing highways and bridges
alone, India will spend more than
Rs. 4,300 billion which may be received
from the Govt. of India, State Govt.,
World Bank, Asian Development Bank,
JBIC etc. Construction of highways
& bridges is mostly under the
aegis of the National Highway Authority
of India & State Government
who is currently making following
segments:
- Golden quadrangle.
- East-west corridor
- North-south corridor
- Other link highways
The government of UP has also taken
up the development of good connecting
highways in a big way. Thus, the
project of Yamuna & Ganga Expressway
of more than 1000 km costing about
Rs. 43,000 crores has been started.
Similarly many other projects are
coming up in BOT or DBFO system
in PPP manner. So far roads &
highways were not given importance
during construction as they were
made with bitumen. Since bitumen
is a byproduct of crude oil which
is imported, it is costly and people
have tendency to steal some out.
Further, its life cycle is limited
to 5-8 years only. Now with the
recent development, most highways
are being made as concrete pavements
which have many advantages over
flexible pavement, like:
- Longer life - 30 to 40 years
- Very little maintenance throughout
their lifetime
- Smoother surface & better
performance
- Vehicles saves up to 14% on
fuel & maintenance cost
- They are non-polluting &
user-friendly
- They do not get damaged during
rain
Though, the cost of concrete roads
is higher than bituminous roads,
they are cheaper than bituminous
road as per life cycle cost. Concrete
is a material, which can be moulded
into any shape or size, and can
be made anywhere.
Many new forms of concrete have
been developed. In order to achieve
quality, appropriate construction
materials and construction practices
should be adhered to.
With the objective of giving direction
to the development of highways &
bridges an all India seminar on
'Highways development: Design, construction,
operation and repairs' & 'Concrete
day celebrations - 2008' is organised
whose themes of discussions are
as follows:
- Pavement management system
- Ganga expressway - Economics
and feasibility
- Design & construction of
concrete roads
- Bituminous pavements - Design
& construction
- Repair and rehabilitation of
highways
- Materials and methodology for
highways
- Bridges - Design, construction
& repair
- Remote sensing and GIS applications
- Mass transit system
- Rural roads
For more details, please contact
Prof. Y.P. Gupta, FIE (I) &
FICI
Convener Seminar and Chairman,
ICI, UP Allahabad Centre,
A-148, Mehdauri Colony,
Allahabad 211 004, UP
Tel: + 91-532-2545620, 094152 39737
(M)
E-mail: yashpalg1@rediffmail.com
Holcim sets benchmark in sustainability
again
For the fourth year in succession,
Holcim has been named "Leader
of the Industry" in the Dow
Jones Sustainability Index (DJSI)
and once again acknowledged as the
company with the best sustainability
performance in the building materials
industry. The Group has been included
in both the Dow Jones Sustainability
World Index and the Dow Jones STOXX
Sustainability Index for six years.
The recognition rewards the continued
and further strengthened commitment
to sustainable development as an
important part of the Group's strategy.
The Group's recycling strategy,
its dialogue with stakeholders as
well as its efforts in human resources
development received top scores.
Launched in 1999, the Dow Jones
Sustainability Index was the first
global index to assess the leading
sustainability-driven companies
worldwide. The Dow Jones Sustainability
World Index comprises the top 10
percent of the biggest 2,500 companies
globally. The Dow Jones STOXX Sustainability
Index includes 20 percent of the
best-placed companies in the Dow
Jones STOXX 600 Index. Analysis
is based on an annual assessment
of general and industry-specific
sustainability criteria undertaken
by SAM Group.
Maximising waste utilisation
in cement and concrete for sustainable
development
The National Council for Cement
and Building Materials & the
Cement Manufacturers' Association
are organising a national workshop
on 'Maximising waste utilisation
in cement and concrete for sustainable
development' on November 17-18,
2008, at New Delhi.
Rapid industrialisation, growth
in population and urbanisation in
course of the two previous millennia
and in the current century have
not only taken a heavy toll on non-renewable
natural resources of the planet
but also caused unprecedented rise
in global warming, whose disastrous
consequences are writ large across
all the continents in many forms,
and all nations, large or small,
under the banner of UNFCCC, are
seriously debating means of its
mitigation. The common fallout from
industrialisation is generation
of a variety of wastes with rapid
depletion of naturally occurring
materials and resources, triggering
a need for reducing dependence on
them. Logically, therefore, most
leading business houses and industries
across the world have adopted Corporate
Social Responsibility (CSR) as the
roadmap of their current and future
business ethics and principles.
The concern for environmental protection
today covers the entire globe, for
sustainability of human civilisation.
Any activity or development, therefore
compels us to take cognisance and
make all possible efforts to minimise
use of non-renewable resources like
gas, petroleum, coal and a host
of mined resources, and at the same
time, maximise utilisation of wastes
from all sources as substitutes,
whether they be industrial, agricultural,
medical, municipal or due to any
other human intervention.
Cement and concrete offer substantial
opportunities for absorbing different
wastes and by-products gainfully.
Some of the major wastes such as
fly ash from thermal power plants,
various types of slag from metallurgical
industries, red mud and spent pot
lining from aluminium industry,
sludges from different chemical
industries, spent catalyst from
petroleum refinery, marble dust
from marble industry and chemical
gypsum and phospho-chalk from fertiliser
industries are posing serious disposal
and ecological problems besides
occupying large areas of valuable
land. The major constituents of
these materials are suitable for
the cement raw mix, which make them
potential substitute/ supplementary
raw materials, leading to not only
a solution to the problem of waste
disposal but also reduction in cost
of production of cement. In addition,
some of the wastes like flyash and
blast furnace slag are being used
as blending components in cements
as well as performance improvers
in Ordinary Portland Cement. Consequently,
about 70% of the cement produced
in India is blended cement. However,
the contemporary regulatory provisions
favouring free availability of flyash
for end users may not last long,
The revised notification on flyash
under finalisation may drastically
change the situation to the disadvantage
of cement and construction industries.
The issues involved, therefore,
deserve serious debate among all
stakeholders,
Although, thermal power plants
are producing about 130 million
tonnes of flyash per year, hardly
30% or around 40 million tonnes
are recycled annually. This leaves
huge accumulations of flyash degrading
the ecology and environment, on
an unprecedented scale. The cement
and construction industry being
the largest consumers of flyash,
to the extent of around 27 million
tonnes per year, their contributions
need to be acknowledged and their
interests in flyash sourcing and
recycling assured in national interest.
The construction industry can provide
a useful outlet for consumption
of such large quantities of flyash.
The use of factory-made Portland
pozzolana / Portland slag cements
or mechanised blending of these
materials at construction sites
or in ready-mixed concrete plant
can provide answer to their disposal
as supplementary cementitious materials
resulting in improved durability
of concrete, conservation of natural
resources and reduction in the emission
of green house gases. Rightly, use
of these industrial wastes or by-products
serves the three-fold purpose of
waste recycling, environmental protection
and durable construction - the three
aces for sustainable development.
The goal of sustainable development
of the cement and concrete industries
can be reached, if we make a serious
effort for increased exploitation
of various industrial wastes in
the production of cement and concrete.
Such efforts should be concerted
among all stakeholders, namely the
originator or polluter, recycling
industry or venture and statutory
bodies, to serve the common goal
of sustainable development.
The key themes of the workshop
are:
- Use of industrial and other
wastes as alternate raw materials
and resources in cement manufacture
- Use of industrial and other
wastes as a blending components
or performance improvers in cement
- Use of wastes in concrete mix,
including ready mix concrete
- Technologies for maximising
use of wastes in cement and concrete
For more details, please contact:
National Council for Cement and
Building Materials
34 Km Stone, Delhi-Mathura Road
(NH2), Ballabgarh 121 004, Haryana
Tel: 91-129-2242051-56, 2246174
Fax: 91-129-2242100, 2246175
E-mail: seminar@ncbindia.com
nccbm@vsnl.com
Web: www.ncbindia.com
Cement House to go green
The golden bond is now turning
green. The biggest cement company,
ACC Ltd. is undergoing an environmentally
friendly redo of its corporate head
office, 'Cement House', at Mumbai.
Constructed in 1939, the 68,000
ft2 six-storey building is being
renovated with an aim to earn a
Leadership in Energy and Environmental
Design (Leeds) certification with
the US Green building council.
To be completed by February 2009,
the Rs. 20 crore project will be
the first-of-its-kind in India to
be registered under the criteria
of major renovation of an existing
building. Presently, 181 buildings
in India have been certified green
by Leeds, but they are all Greenfield
projects. The Leed green building
rating system is the nationally-accepted
benchmark for the design, construction,
and operation of high-performance
green buildings. The building was
constructed on a design by Ballardie
Thompson amp; Mathews from an all-India
competition among leading architects
at that time.
In a major renovation and refurbishment
programme of its corporate headquarters
called Project Orchid, ACC is expected
to save 30% energy costs. Mr. Sumit
Banerjee, managing director, ACC
Ltd., said "Our aim when we
started the renovation was to create
and sustain an ambience which is
not only energy efficient but also
ushers in a new culture of an office
without boundaries which fosters
teamwork and effective communication."
This makeover began by having an
office sans cabins and cubicles,
baring the chairmans cabin and five-odd
meeting rooms. To minimise the use
of electricity, big windows are
installed and the central atrium
which opens right upto the basement.
To enhance its heritage appeal,
the facade of the 70-year old building
is been refurbished. It includes
special features like intelligent
lighting, climate and access control
and state-of-the-art office equipment
and utilities. A sewage treatment
plant will be set-up which will
help save 50% of the water consumed.
Despite payback time for incremental
investment being about five years,
Mr. Banerjee says that lower day-to-day
maintenance is an advantage in the
long run. The company is planning
to go green at the new cement plant
it is going to set up at Chandrapur.
CANMET / ACI events
Ninth CANMET / ACI international
conference on superplasticisers
and other chemical admixtures in
concrete
The Canada Centre for Mineral and
Energy Technology (CANMET), Canada
and the American Concrete Institute
(ACI), USA are organising the 'Ninth
CANMET / ACI international conference
on superplasticisers and other chemical
admixtures in concrete' from October
13-16, 2009 at Seville, Spain.
The purpose of this conference
is to present the latest available
information on the rapidly evolving
field of superplasticisers and other
chemical admixtures and discuss
new areas of research.
Papers are invited on the following
topics:
- The chemistry of superplasticisers
- Development and applications
of superplasticisers / self consolidating
concretes
- Compatibility of superplasticisers
with cements, blended cements,
aggregates etc.
- Compatibility issues involving
superplasticisers and other chemical
admixtures
- Development and applications
of other chemical admixtures
- Viscosity modifying admixtures
- Corrosion inhibitors
- Shrinkage reducing admixtures
- Expansive admixtures
- Polymers
- Other related topics
- Case histories
- Chemical admixtures and sustainable
development
Tenth CANMET / ACI international
conference on recent advances in
concrete technology and sustainability
issues
The Canada Centre for Mineral and
Energy Technology (CANMET), Canada
and the American Concrete Institute
(ACI), USA are organising Tenth
CANMET / ACI international conference
on recent advances in concrete technology
and sustainability issues from October
15-17, 2009 at Seville, Spain.
The purpose of this tenth conference
is to continue to transfer, as widely
as possible, the most recent developments
in concrete technology and sustainability
issues.
Papers are invited on the following
topics:
- Sustainable issues and CO2
emissions
- Environmentally - friendly
concretes
- Nanotechnology : Applications
in cement and concrete
- Recycled concrete aggregates
- Porous concrete / no fines
concrete
- New repair materials
- Polymer concrete
- Test methods for measurement
of diffusion chloride ions into
concrete
- New cementing materials
- New reinforcing materials
- New composite materials
- New grouting materials
- New concrete coating materials
- Use of wood waste in concrete
- Shrinkage compensating admixtures
- Shotcrete
- Microwave curing of small precast
concrete units
- Life-cycle design analysis
/ predictions
- State-of-the art papers on
autogenous shrinkage
- Stainless steel as a reinforcing
material
- New development in superplasticisers
- High-strength concrete
- High-density concrete
- Effect of curing temperatures
on concrete
- Self-consolidating concrete
- High-performance lightweight
concrete
- Fibre-reinforced concrete (new
developments)
- Concrete in marine environment
- Under water concreting
- New construction methods
- Roller-compacted dam and pavement
concretes
- Specifications
- Non-destructive testing methods
/ near-surface tests
- Non-conventional reinforcing
materials
- Case histories
- How to reduce CO2 emissions
in the manufacturing of Portland
cement?
For more details, please contact
:
Pierrette Veillette
Secretary / Treasurer
Committee for the CANMET / ACI
International Conferences
120 boul. de l'Industrie
Canadiac, QC, Canada J5R 1J2
E-mail: pierrette.veillette@handy-chemicals.com
Fax: (450) 659-3133
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