Arteev Sharma

Tribune News Service

Jammu, November 18

The Border Roads Organisation (BRO) has adopted a modern technology, Cementaceous Sub Base (CTSB) — a first-of-its-kind in Asia — for the construction of the sensitive high-altitude Daulat Beg Oldi road bordering China in eastern Ladakh.

According to BRO officials, 12 km of the road is being constructed by utilising the CTSB technology.

The use of the technology is aimed at providing the military with an all-weather road access to north-eastern Ladakh and for facilitating smooth passage of armed personnel and other logistical support.

The area had seen skirmishes during the 1962 India-China conflict and also recent stand-offs. Building this section of the road is a key thrust area of the Defence Ministry for this strategic northernmost corner of India.

“This is a patented technology through which road surface is constructed in an extremely short span of time. The surface is more durable than the one obtained through the conventional method,” a senior BRO official said.

He said, “Besides being treacherous, the engineers face multiple challenges in the construction of these roads ranging from extremely high altitude extending to over 19,000 feet above the sea level resulting in acute mountain sickness to workers and rarified oxygen levels.”

Criss-crossing through the higher Himalayan ranges where temperature dips to below -50°C during the winter, the sectors offer limited window for executing the works from June to October.

“However, considering the nature of activities required to be undertaken for carving out stable roads in the high seismic zone (siesmic-4), conventional methods would take years, much beyond the timelines stipulated for the completion of the projects,” the BRO official said.

Under the CTSB technology, a dry admixture is mixed with sand and crushed stones by means of a machine known as pulveriser. First the crushed stones and sand are spread on the road. The admixture is laid ahead of the pulveriser.

The pulveriser rolls over the admixture mixing all the three components, spreading them evenly over the road surface. The surface is watered for some time. The exercise is repeated after a few days to form the second coating. Then the bitumen is laid over the surface as done in the conventional method.

Engineer in charge Feroz Ahmad said, “Through the CTSB technology, the road length will be completed within three months. The same length would have been completed in 2 to 3 years using the conventional method. The road stretch would be more tenacious to withstand harsh climatic conditions prevailing in these terrains.”

Chief Engineer, Project Himank, Brig Nitin K Sharma complimented engineers for implementing the new technology in most adverse conditions and said such techniques could be replicated in other border areas where conditions for the construction of the road network was rather impossible.