The news that river sand mining is to be banned across all states in India by 2014, with quite a few states already implementing the ban, will definitely prove to be a boost to the sand manufacturing industry.

With the increased demand for construction along with development in infrastructure, the demand for construction materials such as river sand and stone aggregates has increased. This has resulted in illegal mining of river sand and also illegal mining of stones, which in turn, has led to deforestation and soil erosion problems. Indiscriminate dredging by sand suppliers, revealing an utter disregard for consequences, has prompted the government to impose a ban on quarrying river sand; this ban will cover all Indian states by 2014. Then again, various states have already having banned river sand mining.

?An effective alternative to river sand is sand manufactured from crushed rock (naturally available in abundance) based on rock-on-rock. This sand made from crushed rock, besides being protective of the environment, also lends added strength, solidity and stability to all kinds of construction, residential quarters, commercial complexes, bridges, flyovers and factories, etc,? says GN Raju, MD, Nawa Engineers & Consultants.

?The overall demand is good in some pockets of India especially in states like Maharashtra and Kerala where sand mining is banned. The overall market is pegged at around Rs 7,500 crore and expected to touch Rs 12,000 crore in 2014,?says H Sankaranarayanan, Director-Operations, Taurian Engineering

Says RS Raghavan, Managing Director, Proman Infrastructure, ?Both the central and state government in India and their agencies, have realised the detrimental effects sand mining has on the environment and they have also accepted the fact that manufacturing sand through the right equipment is as good as and even better than river sand. In view of the above, there is constant requirement for replenishing the sand market as well as for fine aggregates due to the heavy demand.?

?The demand-supply scenario for manufactured sand and the overall market for sand manufacturing equipment depend upon the overall projects like infrastructure, power and irrigation in India. I am very optimistic about the years to come. The next ten years will definitely change the entire outlook of the industry. We can already see the vital signs of future growth in equipment procurements. We are not too concerned about the short-term economic volatility. India remains a sure thing for the long term and we are here for the long term,? says Raghavan Ramaswamy, Vice President, Sandvik Construction, India.

Speaking on the technical benefits, J Balaji, General Manager ? Marketing & Strategy, RoboSilicon says, ?Regarding technical benefits, all factors remaining the same, the concrete mix produced from manufactured sand is seen to have a good compressive strength and it is also seen to optimise the consumption of cement in the mortar. Manufactured sand has no impurities and follows the IS383 gradation as laid out by IS Standards.?