Construction of Flexible Pavements and Scope of Bitumen Tenders in Indian Construction Industry

Rapidly expanding road transport infrastructure has inspired the road construction authorities in India to opt for highly ambitious road networks across the country. Road expansion is likely to continue for some times to come owing to the growing habitations and consequential demands for transportation facilities. Bitumen tenders are integral parts of the process and offers vast opportunities for entrepreneurs to expand their business by responding to such tenders.

Sources for Bitumen Tenders
Largest source of bitumen tenders in India are the public authorities involved in road construction works.

These include –

• National Highways implementing the NHDP or National Highways Development Program;
• State Highways development and implementation programs;
• Bharat Nirman program;
• Pradhan Mantri Gramya Sadak Yojna or PMGSY;
• Roads constructed by Rural Development Departments of the Central and State Governments;
• Canal embankment roads constructed by the Irrigation or Water Resources Departments;
• Roads constructed by the local self governments like Municipalities and Notified Area Councils in urban and semi-urban area; and
• Corporate houses setting up intra-roads in their project areas.

Bitumen is essential item in most cases where black topping of the road is done and thus one can find numerous bitumen tenders all around the country.

Requirements of Fast Growing Economy
A fast growing economy, there is huge demands for road transport network in India. Demands also include the urge for having high quality pavement structures catering to the heaviest traffic in terms of number as well as the axel loading of the vehicle plying over the road.

Major Projects Requiring Supply of Bitumen
While bitumen is universally applicable in many construction cases, they are a must feature in top class projects like the North-South and East-West corridor project developed by the government in collaboration with international organizations like DFID and IFAD and others. There are multiple such other projects for which bitumen tenders are floated on periodical basis.

Requirements for Flexible Pavements
Majority of the Indian roads contain flexible pavements with bituminous layers. It is an outcome of the past scarcity of cement for which the engineers resorted to flexible and bituminous toppings for the roads. One of the reasons for preference given to flexible pavement over cement concrete roads is that they can be strengthened gradually and in stages with the growth of traffic. Naturally, there are quite substantial demands for the bitumen in road construction works. Since most of the transactions are carried out using tenders, bitumen tenders offer reasonably good scope for business promotion.

Less Expensive
Flexible pavements and bituminous roads can also be milled as well as recycled for rehabilitation. Hence in the long run they are less expensive than the traditional and concrete roads.

Aspirant entrepreneurs looking to respond to the bitumen tenders floated in news papers, electronic media, Internet as well as in the office or organization notice boards should ensure that their response is well prepared and it creates a positive impression in the mind of the authorities awarding the contract on scrutiny of bitumen tenders.

Road Repair and Construction - Roads to Recovery

The significance of road is acknowledged by all as this is one of the most widely used things in the world. In simple words roads are the connecting links between places and destinations that are generally smooth but small roads are paved also.

To construct roads varied materials like asphalt concrete, brick, cobblestone, gravel, planks, tarmac, concrete etc are used. Each used material has its own life and so long is the life of the road made from it. The hardest to hardest material with time deteriorates and thus requires repair and maintenance. Besides heavy traffic there are other factors like environment, snow, rain, earthquake etc that lead to the cracking or deterioration of the road. But among all it has been found out that the most common factor resulting the potholes on the roads is rain. Most of these road repairing projects are given out in the form of road repair tenders. The construction and other related enterprises pick the tender of their industry and apply for it to get the project.

In comparison to all other material bitumen and concrete roads have the longest life of around 40 years. But in order to maintain these roads very sophisticated instruments like laser/inertial Profilometers are used. Through this instrument the curvature of the road along with unevenness, rutting, roughness etc is measured. The data so obtained is then fed into pavement management system. This system then recommends the best maintenance treatment. Based on the requirement various contract work tenders are issued for the best possible outcome.

Further in order to maintain the roads made from asphalt concrete, the process of surface rejuvenation, crack sealing and micro-milling is recommended. Preservation of surface leads to better roads that then require less maintenance. With these processes the structure of the road is also retained to a large extent.

Joint sealing is another method of repairing the damaged roads. Through this method the infiltration of water to the road as well as compression of material is reduced that further lessens the road damage. In joint sealing the old sealant is first of all removed followed by cleaning of the crack. After this the backer rod and the new sealant is applied on the spot. The old sealant is removed with different processes like sawing, manual removal, cutting and plowing.

While cleaning the hole no remains of old sealant as well as dust should remain there. So for better result it is first of all washed with water then air is blown into it to remove any dust particle. After this the backer rod is installed with the help of double-wheeled steal roller that is followed by the sealant in joints.

Road repair tenders in India are mostly issued by the central and state government. These mostly include the construction of new road, maintenance and repair of the old roads, pavement, side drain along the road, widening of road etc. Also in this section putting pipe lines for different utilities is done that are also issued under road repair tenders and road tenders in India. So if you are interested in getting road repair tenders then expand your horizon and broader category of building construction in your business. Selection on the tender should be based on the kind of work you can presently handle comfortably. Also make sure that how capable is your business in handling the stress of work. The submission of road repair tenders should be done after weighing all the elements as then only you will be able to serve the public efficiently.