Plan to promote use of manufactured sand

 Govt to come up with sand policy soon to solve the crisis

Express News Service
Hyderabad: With the severe shortage of river sand hitting the construction  industry hard, the state government is now slowly shifting its focus on manufactured sand.
The government will soon come up with a policy on manufactured sand as resumption of quarrying of river sand 
may get delayed due to environmental concerns.
The total demand for sand in the state is 2 crore cubic metres per annum. But the projected production of sand in the next few months will be 1.7 crore cubic metres only.
With the recent Supreme Court direction, sand mining has been completely stopped for now in the state. Consequently, construction activity has come to a grinding halt. Now, the  government is planning to encourage the use of manufactured sand as an alternative to river sand to meet the growing demand.
“I have discussed with the industry about the production of manufactured sand in the state. Manufactured sand is currently being used in concrete work. Government experts will examine whether it can be used in plastering of walls and construction of bridges and government buildings,” mines and geology minister Galla Aruna Kumari said, after holding a meeting with the owners of stone crushers on Wednesday.
However, manufactured sand is not new to the state. The Robo Sand factory set up at Keesara 12 years ago, is the first manufactured sand unit in the country. Later, 22 manufactured sand units have come up in the state.
Robo Sand managing director Vijay K Kosaraju, who attended the meeting held by the minister, said manufactured sand could also be used for plastering. “We are able to meet the demand for sand for concrete work. We have already developed sand for plastering,” Vijay told Express.
The unit is currently producing 5 lakh cubic metres of sand against the total
demand for 17 lakh cubic metres of the construction industry in Hyderabad . Vijay said his plant capacity could be doubled within six months to one year. “If the government announces a tax holiday, more entrepreneurs will set up manufactured sand units in the state, which will solve the sand crisis,” Vijay said.
However, Aruna Kumari said she would ask the engineers-in-chief to study the use of manufactured sand in plastering work and construction of bridges.
“China, US and several Middle East countries are using manufactured sand. We will send our experts to one or two countries to study the matter. We will also send a team to Gujarat where the use of manufactured sand in construction activity is high,” the minister said.
The rate of river sand is `2,000 to `2,500 per tonne. Whereas the manufactured sand costs `750 only. “When the rate of river sand was `650 per tonne, manufactured sand cost `450 only,” Vijay said.

GRAPHIC

Demand for sand per annum: 2 crore cubic metres
Projected production: 1.7 crore cubic metres

Features

Manufactured sand is an alternative to river sand

Stone crushers crush granite into small particles which is called manufactured sand

River sand particles are round in shape while that of manufactured sand cubical in shape

Rate of river sand is `2,000 to `2,500 per tonne

Manufactured sand costs  `750 per tonne