The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways and the National Rural Road Development Authority are in the process of waterproofing roads in the urban as well as rural areas after the Indian Roads Congress accredited the technology developed by Zydex. The National Highway Authority of India too has decided to evaluate the technology on a five-km stretch.

Roads get damaged due to excessive water seepage, which in turn delaminate the gravel from the asphalt. To prevent this, Zydex has come up with a preventive solution of making the roads waterproof. This can be done by applying a liquid coating on the gravel.

The technology promises to cut down construction cost and enhance load bearing strength of the roads.

“The roads are dotted with cracks and potholes after every monsoon. The new technology binds the gravel and asphalt together about 20 times more than untreated roads. The technique helps in gravel-asphalt binding and the aggregate and bitumen. The new technology will bind the gravel with the asphalt and reduce the cost of road construction,” said Ajay Ranka, the CEO of Zydex Industries.

A committee consisting experts from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Kharagpur and IIT Chennai has been appointed to monitor the project and submit their evaluation and implementation report in March.

The NRRDA is planning to implement the technology in Gujarat, Orissa, West Bengal, Maharashtra, and Andhra Pradesh.

“The technique can help increase the durability of roads. Performance evaluation is going on, and only after we receive the reports we will be able to take the decision on using this technique widely,” said Dr I K Pateria, Deputy Director (technology), NRRDA.

He added: “We have also asked Zydex to approach the state governments directly with the proposals for wider acceptability.”