Geotextiles can give roads a new lease of life

Geotextiles may not be a common term in India. But if the textile experts are to be believed, it is the future of the domestic textile industry.

Geotextiles are synthetic permeable textile materials prepared with the mixture of polypropelene staple fibre and polyethylene staple fibre. This high-strength, high-tenacity material is used with soil, rock, or any other geotechnical engineering related material.

Geotextiles have wide range of uses, but most prominently it is used in the construction of roads. Geotextiles extend the service life of roads, increase their load-carrying capacity, and reduce the incidence of ruts.

"The annual consumption of geotextiles in the world is about 1,500 to 2,000 million metres," said Rakesh Patel, a Surat-based textile technologist.

Despiet the high uses, high cost and non-bio degradability hamper geotextiles' growth in India. However, experts have a different opinion. "The costs do go up, but in long-term he use of geotextiles in road is economical. Roads constructed using geotextiles are very durable and have a higher load capacity. The service life of the roads also go up 3-4 times," Patel said.

"Geotextiles can also be used for laying railway tracks. The material strengthens the railroad beds and increases the service life of the tracks. Geotextile also checks the shifting of the gravel, which greatly reduces possibility of mishaps," he said.

"The claim of non degradation also does not hold true," Patel said. "There are different types of geotextiles - such as coir geotextiles and jute geotextiles - that have all the qualities of synthetic geotextiles but are totally eco-friendly," Patel added.

Geotextiles are also used for preparing meshes and nettings, which can be used for soil erosion control, stream bank protection, coastal area protection, landscaping, waste land development, slit fence.

"There is a huge growth potential for geotextiles in the country. The opportunities are unlimited as the road and transport ministry and the railways ministry are said to be seriously contemplating use of geotextiles," he said.

"There would be a requirement for hundreds of millions of metres of geotextiles within the country itself. This would open up a huge avenue of growth and development. The textile industry of India, especially in Surat, is not in a position to meet global challenges in the post-quota regime. Under these circumstances, geotextiles is the best available option for the industry to diversify into," Patel added.