Roads and highways minister Nitin Gadkari on Tuesday launched a portal to buy cement at lower than market rates in an attempt to bring down construction costs. The initiative has drawn response from 36 cement manufacturers running 103 factories.
The companies are providing the information about the stock on offer on the portal along with the prices agreed upon with the road ministry. The government has contracted with these companies for 95 lakh tonne cement supply. “As cement is manufactured indigenously and bitumen is a byproduct of imported crude oil, the use of cement for national highways is in right earnest with the ‘Make in India’ campaign. The cost of construction would come down by 10-12% with the use of cement over bitumen.” said Gadkari.
“We are providing cement at prices up to Rs 180 a bag against a market price of over Rs 300 a bag on this portal,” Gadkari said. The portal for infrastructure and materials providers — inampro.nic.in — can be used by any user or agency to place orders and schedule the delivery and payment. He is also anticipating that this portal would improve the cement sector which would in turn help the affordable housing plan of the Narendra Modi government too. Besides, the road minister also said that around 2,000 km of roads in villages of Rajasthan are going to use this platform to procure material for construction.
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