HYDERABAD | Jan 14, 2016: The move by the two Telugu-speaking states to protect the environment by restricting the rampant lake sand mining is expected to give a fillip to the nascent manufactured sand or artificial sand industry. While Telangana has decided to extensively use the manufactured sand for all its large irrigation projects, AP is looking at promoting use of manufactured sand for its new Greenfield capital city construction.
The Telangana government had initially issued orders permitting the use of manufactured sand to the extent of up to 50% and has recently allowed use of artificial sand up to 100% in large scale irrigation projects.
"Given the shortage of sand in the market, we will be opting for manufactured sand," said C Muralidhar, engineer-in-chief in Telangana's Irrigation ministry.
"However, the ecosystem here for manufactured sand has not developed, so we may use a combination of both and later go for manufac ured sand as and when the industry lourishes and if it suits our specifications," he told ET.
Manufactured sand is produced by passing boulders and stones through a series of jaw and cone crushers for size reduction and then fed into vertical shaft impact crushers where they are pulverised further to the size of sand. At present, the artificial sand is nearly 50% cheaper than river sand.While river sand is being sold at around Rs 1,300 a tonne, the artificial sand is sold for half a price.
The Telangana government estimates a sand requirement at around 40 lakh cubic metre every year for construction of dams and canals.Growing curbs on mining of natural lake sand have led to a serious shortage of sand in the market, where artificial sand manufacturers see major opportunity.
The Telangana irrigation ministry is looking at increasing its expenditure on irrigation projects to at least . 25,000 crore next fiscal from ` ` . 8,500 crore this year.
Andhra Pradesh chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu is also insisting on extensively using the artificial sand in the construction of his new Greenfield capital city Amaravati owing to inadequate availability of natural lake sand for taking up construction works on a large scale.Manufacturers of artificial sand point out that states like Kerala and Karnataka are also opting for the manufactured sand and are increasingly using it in their projects.
"It's a move in the right direction and we will be approaching the government contractors in this regard," said Vijay Kosaraju, MD of Hyderabad-headquartered artificial sand manufacturer Robo Silicon.
Adding to the fortunes of the manufactured sand, the real estate sector has of late began looking up to the artificial sand. Large construction firms including Ramky Infrastructure, SMR group and Aparna group are increasingly using artificial sand in their projects.
"Almost all top builders in the region have been using the manufactured sand, though for certain aspects like plastering, river sand is preferred given its smoothness. However, some manufacturers are even coming out with the manufactured sand that is suitable for plastering," says P. Dasharath Reddy, President of Telangana Real Estate Developers' Association (TREDA).
However, the domestic sand manufacturing industry is currently lying in doldrums with subdued business and a slowdown in real estate sector further skewing its business. Regulatory hurdles in opening of crusher units and lack of projects from the government which constitutes a major part of their business have capped the industry's growth, they said.
"We would request the government to prioritise quarry allocation and make single window system more effective to revive the industry which has been witnessing sluggish growth," said Vijay Bhaskar Reddy, MD of Ruby Sand.
(Source: http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/)