Using coir in road construction will give big boost to coir industry: MSME Minister

New Delhi, May 20 (KNN) Union Minister of Micro Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) Nitin Gadkari on Wednesday said that the decision to use Coir Geo textiles, a permeable fabric, in road construction will give a big boost to the coir industry.

As per the communication from the National Rural Infrastructure Development Agency under Union Ministry of Rural Development, Coir Geo textiles will be used for construction of rural roads under the PMGSY-III. 

Speaking about the development, Gadkari, who has been behind the move to explore alternative usage of coir fibre, said, "This is a very significant development as we have now been successful in deploying coir geo textile in road construction. The decision will give a big boost to the coir industry especially in these difficult times of COVID-19 pandemic."

''The decision opens up a huge market potential for Coir Geo-textiles in the country and will be a boon to the Covid-19 hit coir industry,'' he added.

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% roads are to be constructed using IRC accredited technology. The IRC has now accredited coir Geo textiles for construction of rural roads, said a PIB release.

As per these instructions, 5% length of the rural roads under PMGSY-III will be constructed using Coir Geo textiles.  Accordingly 164 Kms of road will be constructed using coir geo textiles in Andhra Pradesh, 151 kms in Gujarat, 71 kms in Kerala , 328 kms in Maharashtra,470 kms in Odisha, 369 kms TN and 121 kms in Telengana.

''Thus 1674 km road will be constructed using Coir Geo textiles in 07 states for which there will be a requirement of One Crore Sq. mtrs of coir Geo-textiles, estimated cost of which would come to Rs.70 Crore,'' the statement added.