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VISAKHAPATNAM, Aug. 9

THE initiative taken by the Andhra Pradesh Government to achieve 100 per cent fly-ash utilisation in the building sector within a five-year time frame found prime focus on the first day of the two-day national workshop on "Industrial promotion for fly ash" here on Friday.

Several speakers, including Mr V. Suresh, former Hudco chairman-cum-managing director, lauded the efforts of the State Government in the area of fly-ash utilisation.

The State Government has unveiled a programme to promote fly-ash utilisation in the construction sector so as to use 30 per cent of the fly-ash generated in the State within the next two years, 60 per cent in the third year and 100 per cent by the end of the fifth year.

The Government has directed that all departmental constructions should involve more use of fly-ash bricks and blended cement (fly-ash or slag blended).

Several experts pointed out that with Andhra Pradesh accounting for 10 per cent of the country's total fly ash generation, the State offered interesting possibilities for setting up new units to manufacture fly-ash blended building materials.

However, as Mr Suresh pointed out, the "status on compliance with the incremental time-frame stipulated by the State Government for departmental constructions to switch over to fly-ash based building materials leaves much to be desired.''

In the national context, it was pointed out by several experts that there had to be a strict schedule for compliance. The total fly-ash generation from the thermal power plants in the country had currently gone up to 100 million tonnes from 60 m.t. in 1997 and it was expected to touch the 110 m.t.-mark by 2005.

With the country's fly-ash utilisation level being a measly 10 per cent, as against 70 per cent in China, it had now become imperative to ensure that the utilisation of fly-ash was promoted "with a sense of zeal and urgency'', experts at the workshop pointed out.

Among the suggestions that emerged at the workshop were setting up of fly ash-based building materials estates, entrepreneurial development programmes to encourage investments in this sector and inclusion of fly-ash utilisation in the engineering and architecture courses.

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