Surat: Faced with the ever vexing problem of preparing durable roads, the Surat Municipal Corporation (SMC) has decided to use steel slag apart from regular tar while making the roads in order to ensure that they don’t get damaged that easily.

The pilot project to use steel slag (industrial steel waste) will be undertaken in the Khajod area, which has presence of a lot of heavy vehicles because of the landfill site in the area. A road using steel slag will be prepared for the processing plant for final disposal of municipal waste. The road will continue to be continuously monitored after it is ready. Based on this, a detailed report will be prepared on whether to move ahead with the proposal to develop roads out of steel slag in other parts of the diamond city.

This is the first attempt of its kind across the state to not only renovate but modernize the roads. Experts opine that not only are roads prepared from steel slug durable but are also less expensive to build.

The city had become first city in the country to get a processed steel slag (industrial waste) road built as part of a joint-venture project by the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), Central Road Research Institute (CRRI), Union Ministry of Steel, government think-tank NITI Ayog, and ArcelorMtttal-Nippon Steel (AM/NS), at Hazira earlier.