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With one of the world’s fastest growing economies but one of the emerging world’s most complicated transportation networks, India seems poised to make a serious investment in road modernization through, among other technologies, the incorporation of geotextiles. In an interview with Calcutta’s Telegraph newspaper, A.B. Joshi, a commissioner from the Ministry of Textiles, is quoted as saying “We are going all out for promotion of geotextiles in the Northeast…. Geotextiles [have] been accepted worldwide for enhancing the quality and longevity of roads, but [their] use in India has been minimal.”
Recent years have seen engineers push for the adoption of geotextiles to help improve the vast network of rural roads that connect hundreds of millions of Indians to the larger production and service centers of the country. At the same time, coir growing regions have sought more coir-only textile approaches. The stalemate has produced a lack of real adoption of both highly engineered geosynthetic geotextiles and coir versions.
Mr. Joshi’s comments follow the presentation of the 2012–2013 budget. Included in the Twelfth Plan is a Rs 500 crore (USD $100 million) pilot scheme for the promotion and application of geotextiles in the country’s Northeast. Weaving centers have been planned in Mizoram and Nagaland.
Geosynthetics are gaining ground in discussion thanks to a strong and sustained effort by universities, trade organizations such as FICCI, and manufacturing-related organizations such as the Business Coordination House (BCH). International engineering conferences, such as PIANC-COPEDEC 2012, have also come to India and raised the bar for construction options.
Manufacturing in the nation is growing too, in regards to geosynthetics. Germany based equipment manufacturer Oerlikon Neumag recently announced that a staple fiber geotextile plant with 12 spinning positions would be constructed in India and operational by the end of 2012. Oerlikon Textile’s CEO, Clement Woon, stressed the importance of this venture in that it would support “nonwoven producers who intend to make their own specialized stable fibers.” It is a sign that not only does the Indian market need to adopt materials that are standardized elsewhere but that material manufacturers must have the tools available to them to meet the specific engineering requirements of India’s soil and shoreline conditions and general infrastructure.
International geosynthetics manufacturers such as NAUE and Solmax have established manufacturing bases in Asia to directly serve these newer markets while others, such as Strata Systems, have established strong partnerships within India.
Of course, the effort to sustain knowledge growth in India must not be overlooked. In addition to the growth of domestic civil engineering programs and trade organization and government support, PlastIndia, in partnership with the University of Wisconsin – Madison and University of Massachusetts – Lowell, has planned a $30 million plastics university in the northwest of the country.
India now produces 4% of the world’s plastics products and the nation’s polymeric materials sector is growing at a rate of 12% per year.
