Ministry pushes use of steel over concrete in infrastructure sector

As for the housing sector, the Steel Ministry plans to provide affordable homes made of steel which are cost-effective and more durable.

a century now, the Steel Ministry wants them to use it also in the construction of small culverts etc and even station buildings and platforms.

The drawback of concrete is its low ductility and resistance against vibrations. It’s brittle in nature and has low fatigue value in comparison to steel, the ministry explains.

Though use of steel may push the cost up by 10% Soma Mandal said, “Continuous innovation is going on to make structures in all areas smarter and ever more user friendly. Use of steel has become inevitable in gigantic, multi- storied constructions like residential projects, commercial spaces, sports complexes and transport infrastructure like airports, flyovers, bridges, sea-links, industrial buildings, hospitals, hotels and metro lines.”

SAIL is now producing more customised grade structurals like SAILMA, seismic resistant grade and corrosion resistant steel at its Durgapur and IISCO steel plants.

Its parallel flanges score over the conventional fabricated beams in terms of product flexibility, mechanical efficiency, ease of fabrication, speed of construction, product quality and cost effectiveness.

Mondal said that the steel major has envisaged a threepronged strategy focusing on effectiveness of sales force, market development and market-oriented production to give a massive boost to sales and marketing of the smart structural under the brand name NEX. She said with the government developing 100 smart cities, use of the alloy will be economical due to low life cycle cost and give these cities a strong and sustainable foundation.

“As part of the initiative, we will organise seminars on the subject across the country to be attended by architects, designers, consultants, project owners, infrastructure development companies, business owners, government representatives and customers,” she added.

The Maharatna PSU is also exploring the possibility of getting the popular designing software used by most designers in India to include its structurals in their programmes.

The initiative aims at further promoting the structurals that are one of the primary inputs in any kind of construction project worldwide.