Nitin Gadkari, the Transport Miinister of India is reported to have expressed that cement will be used for new road projects as it is cheaper to maintain than bitumen in the long run although the material is more expensive.
The report says he claimed that building roads using concrete will not be 20% more expensive that using bitumen.
The Transport Ministry will also start a tender for a company to offer cement at competitive prices, while the use of cement for roads will be permitted for building roads under the build-operate-transfer (BOT), engineering-procurement-construction and toll models.
Abhaya Agarwal, a partner in Ernst & Young said the government should ensure roads are not frequently being dug up after construction, and that it should also consider availability of coal and limestone for cement production.
