Construction Industry in IndiaLast 25 Years 1985-2010

S A ReddiFellow Indian National Academy of Engineering

In March 2010, The Prime Minister, addressing the Conference on Building Infrastructure in New Delhi, observed:

“India’s recent economic performance has been commendable ... The economy grew at an average annual rate of about 9% before the global economic meltdown. It slowed down in 2008 because of the global crisis which continued into 2009, compounded by a severe drought the country faced. Despite these adverse circumstances, our economy grew by 6.7% in fiscal year 2008-09, and it has accelerated to 7.2% in the (current) fiscal year. These rates are well above those seen in the developed worlds, and reflect the underlying strengths of our economy. We expect to achieve 8.5% growth rate in the year 2010-11 and I hope we can achieve a growth rate of 9% in the year 2011-12”The Prime Minister’s observations sum up the current scenario.

Factors influencing Indian Construction Industry:

Globalization: Construction is becoming an increasingly global business, characterized by a trend towards large firms. There is access to Indian construction companies to go global. Privatization: Enthusiasm for private enterprise and the ceiling on government spending have led to the provision of public services by the private sector. Information Technology and Telecommunication Development in information processing and communication technologies allows firms to operate internationally. International Market change, economic and population growth, and increasing per capita income, and e urbanization have created huge demand for construction, not satisfied by local companies in terms of technology and management skills as well as capital.

A representative cross section of state of art projects realized during the last 25 years is now presented:

Roads:

The Grand Trunk Road (GT Road) is one of the oldest and longest major roads. For several centuries, it has linked the eastern and western regions of the India. It was initiated by Chandra Gupta Maurya and later renovated and extended by Sher Shah in the 16th century.

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Fig:1 Grand Trunk Road built by Emperor Sher Shah

Under former Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee, India launched a massive program of NHDP, in which the main north-south and east-west connecting corridors and highways connecting the four metropolitan cities have been fully paved and widened into 4-lane highways.

Some of the busier National Highway sectors in India have been converted to four or six lane expressways –Delhi-Agra, Delhi-Jaipur, Ahmedabad-Vadodara, Mumbai-Pune, Mumbai-Surat, Bangalore-Mysore, Bangalore-Chennai etc. Travel time by road between metropolitan Cities has been reduced by half!

Majority of current road projects are planned via PPP route, are carried out by Concessionaires on Build, Operate and Transfer basis. The Private Concessionaire finances, builds, maintains the road for the concession period and hands over the road to the Government at the end of the concession period. He recovers the investment and interest through toll, annuity, viability gap fund etcExpressways are the highest class of roads. The National Highway System also consists of approx 10,000 km of four-lane roads.

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Fig 2: Satara Kholapur Concrete road Fig 3: Mumbai Pune Expressway incorporating Fly ash

Bridges and Flyovers, Elevated Roads

Improved Construction methods and technology have resulted in a number of landmark structures. Notable among them are:

Vidya Sagar Setu Cable Stay Bridge Kolkata DMRC Elevated Structures, more than 100km aggregate length Extrados bridges -DMRC, Vivekananda Setu Bangalore Elevated Road to Electronic city Hyderabad Elevated Road Airport to city Externally Pre-stressed Box Girder – Delhi NOIDA Toll Bridge

Long span PSC Segmental cantilever bridges include central span of 160m for the Chenab Bridge at Akhnoor near Jammu (2008) and 180 m central span for the Bagchal Bridge across Long span PSC Segmental cantilever bridges include central span of 160m for the Chenab Bridge at Akhnoor near Jammu (2008) and 180 m central span for the Bagchal Bridge across Sutlej in Himachal Predesh

Fig 4: Lajpatnagar Flyover, New Delhi Fig 5: Sion Flyover Spliced Girders

Fig 6: Balason Bridge at Darjeeling

Fig:7 Second Vivekananda Bridge (Sister Nivedita Setu) Kolkota

The Kathipara flyover in Chennai involves design and construction of a clover leaf interchange. The 600m long dual 12.0m wide deck for the main viaduct spans connect the Inner ring road to Airport. Four loops 200m each connect to main viaduct from Guindy – Poonamallee Road .All the structural spans are resting on aesthetically shaped piers founded on open footings. Voided slab PSC and RC have been adopted for superstructure

Fig8: Kathipara flyover in Chennai

TCS Techno park, Siruseri, Chennai

One of the large IT Parks accommodates 30,000 professionals and is located along East Coast of Chennai on 70 acres of land. This facility has 465,000 sq.m.area. Its efficient concrete structural system supports the complex Structural steel roofing. The butterfly shaped roof adorns the top of Engineering Buildings while a magnificent dragon shaped Central Spine covers the Podium standing erect between the two rows of General Service buildings.

Fig 9: TCS Technopark, Siruseri, Fig 10: Vidhana Soudha Phase II, BengaluruChennai

The building which houses Legislature -cum-Secretariat, Government Offices, is planned to match the existing Vidhana Soudha in the architectural style and its grandiose. The Monumental Building is Reinforced Concrete.

Palais Royale, The tallest Building in India 2010

India’s first Platinum rated Green Residential Building, has incorporated number of innovations:

M80 SCC for columns M60 High Strength Concrete for beams and slabs MEVA formwork, with unlimited number of reuses Columns, shear walls, lift shafts concreted ahead of floors

Four-Six days concreting cycle aimed at Integrated Building Management System Pre-tensioned Floors 9m deep Transfer Girders in pre-stressed concrete

The Lower Floors used for car parking and amenity Spaces The floors above 70m are designed as residential spaces Home to the world’s tallest Atrium- 215m Octagonal shape will ensure minimum wind resistance

Entire Sewage Water treated to drinking water standard,

Reused in the Building itself Rainwater is harvested; Surplus water used for gardens Solar and Wind Energy reduce burden on electrical system

11 A 11 B 11 C 11 D

Fig 11: Palais Royale- Progress Photos

Fig10A: Model of the Building

Fig10B: Reinforcement for Columns with Couplers

Fig10C: Concreting with Placer Boom

Fig10D: SCC 80 Grade Column Surface, unvibrated

Ghatghar Pumped Storage Scheme in MaharashtraIndia’s First Roller Compacted Concrete Dam:

Over 600,000 cubic meters of Roller Compacted Concrete, Zero slump concrete is prepared in a batching plant, transported in dumpers, placed in layers and compacted by vibratory rollers, enabling fast track construction. The completed Lower Dam (2007) was 9th fastest built RC Dam in the world. Over 600,000 cubic meters of Roller Compacted Concrete were placed. Maximum monthly RCC placement of 90103 Cu.m was achieved. RCC placement for Lower Dam of height of 85 m was completed in 12 working months. Major part of the binder consisted of fly ash.

Fig 12: Ghadkar Roller Compacted Concrete (RCC) Dam

Kaiga Atomic Power Project:

The Inner containment dome of the reactor building is a 42.56 m diameter prestressed concrete dome with 4 openings of 4.1m dia. The dome consists of a ring beam of 4.1m deep and a shell of 500 mm thick. Concrete grade M-45 is used Total quantity of concrete is 2130 cum. The building has a 42.56 m dia PSC dome with 4 openings of 4.1m dia. The dome consists of a ring beam of 4.1m deep and a shell of 500 mm thick. Concrete M-45 is used. Total quantity of concrete (2130 cum) was pumped to a height of 50 m

Fig 13 Kaiga Dome Formwork

Natural Draught Cooling Towers:

India has been pioneers in design and construction of natural draught cooling towers since 1934. Two 173 m tall Natural Draught cooling towers are recently constructed for 2x600 MW Thermal Power Project at Haryana, India. The base diameter of tower shell is 129 m and top diameter is 73.5 m. These towers are tallest in India, one of the tallest in the world. The world record is 200m in Germany

Fig 14 ND Cooling Towers 173m tall New Airport Terminals Use PPP Route

Bengaluru International Airport

With two parallel runways, the airport allows growth up to 50 million passengers a year. Spread across 4300 acres, the terminal building has innovative pre- cast and pre-stressed concrete shell roof

Fig 15 Bangalore Airport Terminal Building

Hyderabad International Airport : The Rajiv Gandhi International Airport has the longest runway 4260m; handles the largest passenger aircraft, the Airbus A380. The passenger terminal has 100,000 Sqm. floor area. The roof is designed with a seamless steel roofing system..

Fig 16 Delhi International Air port T3

Delhi International Air port T3

Spread over 4 km, 80% of the nine level terminal building is made of glass, supported by metal frames. Workers from many countries were involved in construction. The airport proves the success of PPP in execution of large infrastructure projects on fast track. Light-weight materials have seen it get over in record 37 months.

High Strength Concrete (HSC) : HSC 60mPa Grade was adapted for the first time in India for the reconstruction of pre-stressed concrete dome for the Kaiga Atomic Power Project in the Nineties.

Since then hundreds of structures – bridges, flyovers, high rise buildings, components of hydel Projects etc have been utilizing HSC of Grades up to 80mPa. The IS Code 456 was also revised in the year 2000, incorporating HSC of up to 80mPa Grade. The prestigious 300m plus tall High Rise Building Palais Royale under construction in Mumbai includes 80mPa Grade Self Compacting Concrete for the columns.

Mineral admixtures are used as part replacement of Ordinary Portland Cement and include one or more of Fly ash, Slag, Metakaolin. Silica fume is available both as a water-based slurry and as a densified powder.

Fig 17 Spread of SCC Fig 18 SCC requires no vibration

Self Compacting Concrete (SCC): first used in Kaiga Atomic Power Project Unit 3 (2000). SCC flows around congested reinforcement, fills formwork without vibration. Recently number of

projects has used SCC. For the tallest building in India under construction M80 grade SCC is used for the columns. Based on the analysis of works cube test results, it is proposed to increase the grade to M 100 for columns above 100m.

Reinforcement Steel: Fe 500 is increasingly used. Fe 550 is also produced in India, used for columns in buildings. Couplers are replacing laps for large diameter bars. BIS has revised the Code, including Grades up to Fe 600. Ductile reinforcement is produced for Earthquake Resistant Structures

Pre-stressing Tendons: Tendons 27x 15mm were used for the Delhi NOIDA Toll Bridge in the year 2000. For Koodankulam Atomic Power Project nearing completion, tendons made of 57 strands are used

Pre tensioned Beams: Extensively used for beams for bridges and flyovers. Spans have been extended to 36m for bridges across Beas and Sutlej. Spliced pre tensioned beams have enabled 42m spans in pre-tensioned concrete at the Sion Flyover, Mumbai ( Fig 5 ).

A bridge, 463 m long and 200 m wide, across the Adyar river, part of the secondary runway expansion project, is under construction for expansion of a runway at Chennai airport. The bridge will accommodate runway, taxiway and space for movement of operational equipment. It is designed to accommodate even the latest A380 aircraft. It will be supported by 432 RCC piers. About 2,490 pre-cast, pre-tensioned concrete girders will hold the bridge. Itwill be completed within 15 months.

Epilogue: The author was privileged to be associated with many of the projects described in the Paper