HYDERABAD,08/03/2013:Delegates having a look at the exhibits displayed at Pepscon 2013 (Pre-Engineered steel building and Precast Concrete Structures) in Hyderabad on March 08, 2013.The Conference is organized by SEWC India (Structural Engineers World Congress - India). Photo:Nagara Gopal

While there is a lot of interest around precast structures and industry, there is always a lingering question over the vital aspect of affordability and operational costs involved in running a precast industry. Are they cost effective and is it a financially viable option to operate a precast manufacturing industry?

Depending on the scale, setting up of precast industry in Hyderabad and elsewhere in Telangana State will involve incurring expenditure anywhere between Rs. 10 crore and Rs.40 crore. The interesting part is that the precast set up can also be expanded in phases as production demand increases.

Engineers and foreman who have the experience and know-how of precast technology in terms of its production, transportation, and erection are also required to run the precast industry. The firms who supply the precast equipment from abroad will usually train the engineers, foreman and other technicians for a period of one to two months and help in getting the production of elements for a month time, and ensure that the engineers are fully aware of its production and handling.

There are a few real estate companies in Hyderabad, like Janapriya Builders, who have taken the lead and have emerged as the first developers who have bought the Battery Mould precast equipment from a Finland firm called, Elematic. They have started building villas in Kapra village, by using the precast technologies. Similar to Janapriya, there are several other real estate companies like Sobha Developers in Bangalore, Supertech in Noida and Teemage who have set up precast units and are meeting their own requirements in full and their projects are completed well ahead of time. Precast firms like India Infrastructure company in Pune and Sintex in Mumbai are also doing very brisk business in supplying, and erection of precast structures to the customers.

For all the Economically Weaker Sections housing (G+3), LIG (S+ G+7 or 8) and MIG(S+ G+7 or 8) structures, precast is the best answer. For these type of structures, precast walls and precast slabs will make the structure stronger and durable too in the long run, and will resist lateral forces due to wind and earthquake effectively as strong shear wall type construction.

In Telangana and Andhra Pradesh, the respective State government’s are looking to construct affordable homes of two room units and precast is the best option for it. For this, with about, 7 to 8 tilting and fixed tables, costing approximately Rs. 2 crore, walls and slabs could be cast and constructing about 3,00,000 sft per year at a particular location can be easily achievable.

Precast hollow core slabs have distinct advantage of being light weight with considerable savings in material, span range, and high speed of construction is achievable. These factors have to be considered for projects of bigger volumes because their completion times could be realised faster. Apart from Type 1 Hollow core slab systems, whereby one need to depend upon the machinery from abroad, other types of Precast slabs viz., Type 2 to Type 5 also are equally suitable and could be considered by Indian entrepreneurs which could be prefabricated in India

Lots of scope is available for precast construction sector for entrepreneurs to set up the precast units for the construction industry across India. By resorting to precast, project completion time lines will be realised faster than the cast insitu and saves time by 40 to 50 per cent, which will automatically save cost on the project with reduced overheads on

Shortage of skilled labour required for cast insitu could be overcome by resorting to precast type of construction. The precast set up to be based on requirements and thereafter gradual expansion can be made to meet the additional requirements in terms of expanded beds, etc., The investment costs should be such that setting up of the precast unit could be realised in about a maximum period of 10 years and one needs to forecast and programme for the corresponding quantum of production of elements and achieve them.

(The author C.A. Prasad, is Director, Metey Engineering and Consultancy Pvt Ltd in Hyderabad a,nd can be reached at prasad@metey.in)

Telangana and Andhra Pradesh governments are looking to construct affordable homes of two room units, and precast is the best option for it.

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Printable version | May 9, 2022 6:18:04 am | https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/telangana/starting-a-precast-industry/article7825611.ece