The Ministry of Road Transport & Highways (MoRTH) released policy guidelines on Monday to encourage the use of inert materials or urban solid waste in the construction of National Highways, with the goal of promoting sustainable highway construction.
Huge amounts of dirt are needed for the construction of highways, and often this material must be taken from agricultural areas by excavation. In a letter to the chief secretaries, secretaries of the states, and its own concerned departments, the ministry acknowledged this fact and the need for methods that have the least negative impact on the environment and ecology when procuring materials. It stated that one significant environmental challenge facing urban areas nationwide is the disposal of solid waste generated on a daily basis, and that using inert material on highways can be a significant step toward finding a solution.
“As per rough assessment, around 10,000 hectare land is locked in dump sites. Due to limited land availability, these land fill sites are on verge to attain maximum capacity and pose serious environmental and Health Hazards…Under Swatch Bharat Mission Urban 2.0 (SBM 2.0), solid waste sites and availability of material has been mapped and as per their assessment about 1700 lakh ton waste is accumulated across 2304 dump sites in the country. The inert material available from these processing sites can be potentially utilised in construction of embankment for NHs and state roads,” said the Ministry of Road Transport & Highways.
“For the project under DPR stage, the consultant would examine availability of land-fill site on Gati Shakti portal. In case, any site is located in the vicinity of top 25 dumpsites of the country or in the vicinity of 100 km of any dumpsite, concerned Regional office/Project Implementation Unit (RO/PIU) shall inform the Municipal Corporation/other department regarding upcoming express/highway project and the amount of inert material potentially usable in the project,” the ministry added.