Govt approves use of Coir Geotextiles for rural road building

The Government approved the use of Coir Geotextile in rural road construction and it will give a big boost to the coir industry, Union Minister for Road Transport and Medium Small Micro Enterprises ( MSME) Nitin Gadkari said here on Wednesday.

Coir Geotextiles will be used for the construction of rural roads under the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY-III), said the Minister.

"This is a very significant development as we have now been successful in deploying coir geotextile in road construction. The decision will give a big boost to the coir industry especially in these difficult times of COVID-19 pandemic, " Gadkari said.

As per the PMGSY new technology guidelines for road construction, 15% length in each batch of proposals, is to be constructed using new technologies. Out of this, 5% of roads are to be constructed using IRC (Indian Road Congress) accredited technology. The IRC has now accredited coir geotextiles for construction of rural
roads.

As per the guidelines, 5% length of the rural roads under PMGSY-III will be constructed using Coir Geotextiles. This means a total of 1, 674 km road will be constructed using Coir Geotextiles in seven states. For the length of 1,674 km road, one crore square-meters of coir geotextiles estimated to cost Rs 70 crore.

The decision opens up a huge market potential for Coir Geotextiles in the Country and will be a boon to the COVID-19 hit coir industry, Gadkari said.