Navhind Times

Panaji, Jun 22: The Ponda municipal council will be the first municipal body in the state to construct ‘plastic roads’ under its jurisdiction.

The Goa State Pollution Control Board chairperson, Dr L U Joshi informed ‘The Navhind Times’ that the Central Pollution Control Board has recently informed the GSPCB about the ‘plastic roads’ made from polymer-blended bitumen which shows higher softening point, lower penetration point and better ductility.

The CPCB has also informed that if such roads are constructed in Goa then 50 per cent of the cost will be borne by it, while the remaining 50 per cent will have to be borne by the concerned municipal body in the state.

Accordingly, Dr Joshi said the GSPCB convened a meeting of the state municipal bodies which was attended by the officials of the Ponda municipal council including its chairperson, Manoj Keni and the chief officer, Rajan Satardekar.

The Ponda municipality has agreed to send its proposal within a week for undertaking construction of ‘plastic roads’, which would then be forwarded to the CPCB, Dr Joshi said. He also informed that the PMC will identify stretches of roads in Ponda taluka which would be laid down with ‘plastic’ as soon as the proposal is cleared by the CPCB.

Speaking further, Dr Joshi said the Goa Small Industries Association president, Mr Keshav Kamat has agreed to invite experts from Bangalore who have carried out such tasks and further request them to construct ‘plastic roads’ in Ponda taluka.

If the concept of ‘plastic roads’ is successfully implemented in Ponda taluka, it may well be followed by other municipal bodies around the state, he said.

The GSPCB chairperson informed that the ‘plastic roads’ involve plastic waste including disposable plastic being shredded and mixed with bitumen at a high temperature of around 160 degrees centigrade in the mini hot-mix plant, which in turn gives the plastic mixture a better binding property on softening.

Further studies in this respect are being conducted at the TCE, Madurai and it has been observed that this polymer-coated aggregate with bitumen is a better material for road construction, in terms of strength and resistance to rainwater, Dr Joshi said, adding that the states of Maharashtra, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and the Union territory of Pondicherry have successfully constructed such “plastic roads”.

The consumption of plastic in the country has increased manifold from 4,000 tonne per annum, in 1990 to 4 million tonne per annum in 2001, it was informed, and is expected to rise to about 7.5 million tonne per annum by 2007. Thus, the per capita consumption of plastic in the country is about 4 kg per annum, Dr Joshi observed.

He also said that burning of plastic waste in the open air gives rise to the carcinogenic smoke which in turn, results in diseases like cancer and other respiratory illnesses. The municipal bodies should ensure that such methods are not adopted for disposing of the plastic waste in their jurisdiction, he observed.