Workshop on 'Life Cycle Assessment of Hot Mix and Cold Mix Technologies for Construction and Maintenance of Rural Roads'

The Centre for Sustainable Mobility, TERI, organized a workshop for dissemination of the results of its study 'Life Cycle Assessment of Hot Mix and Cold Mix Technologies for Construction and Maintenance of Rural Roads'. The study has been carried out in association with the National Rural Roads Development Agency (NRRDA). The workshop was organized jointly by TERI and NRRDA at India International Center, New Delhi, on August 18, 2017. The event was attended by senior officials from NRRDA, International Labour Organization, state rural road development agencies from 14 states, Central Road Research Institute, and other organizations involved in the sector.

The inaugural session started with an address by Dr Ajay Mathur, in which he expressed hope that the recommendations of the study would be implemented at the ground level. Mr Bhushan, DG, NRRDA, pointed out that rural roads were a means of poverty reduction in a sustainable manner and emphasized that new and innovative technologies such as cold mix were being given immense importance in the construction of rural roads. He also attested to the importance of the study as a first-of-its-kind effort to compare the impact of a new technology (cold mix) vis-à-vis conventional technology (hot mix) for construction of rural roads. Mr S Vijay Kumar in his address expressed his optimism that the study would be adopted as a guide for implementing new and unconventional technologies in the construction of rural roads in all the states.

A detailed presentation on the study results was made by Ms Akshima T Ghate, Senior Fellow and Associate Director, TERI. It was followed by an interactive session among the various attendees. The study was widely appreciated and diverse views were presented on the adoption of new technologies such as cold mix in construction of rural roads and how their adoption would prove useful in reducing the energy consumption and emissions from rural roads construction and maintenance, and making rural roads more sustainable and long lasting.