- Sunil Sapru, Region Director-India, Ammann Apollo India The Indian Government, through a series of initiatives, is working on policies to attract significant investor interest. The government plans to develop a total of 66,117 km of roads under different programmes such as National Highways Development Project (NHDP), Special Accelerated Road Development Programme in North East (SARDP-NE) and Left Wing Extremism (LWE), and has set an objective of building 30 km of road a day from 2016. 'And, with new projects getting from the approval stage to implementation, there is a positive outlook toward the overall business and industry growth for sensor pavers in India,' says Sunil Sapru, Region Director-India, Ammann Apollo India. He shares more on the market with CW. What is the current market for sensor pavers in India? What is the demand scenario? For sensor pavers with paving width 5.5 m (city paver class), the market size is 200-225 units. In the 7 m and above paving width class, the market size is 70-75 units. NHAI is the main driving force for increasing the demand for sensor pavers in India. The stability of the current government is also bringing in a culture of faster decision-making and accountability. Today, there are some good opportunities for all contractors. The efforts of the NHAI are also well supported by state road authorities. How will the focus on infrastructure projects such as roads and highways, ports and airports help in the growth of sensor pavers? Governments making the use of sensor pavers compulsory even for municipal roads, MDR, city roads, etc, will improve the utilisation of sensor pavers. Besides, we look for airports, smart cities and racing tracks, etc. What are the advantages of using sensor pavers in construction? How do they help achieve speed and quality construction of roads? Sensor basically controls the gradient along the road as well as across the road. It has two major advantages: Improves the quality of road in terms of levelling and gradients and; in value terms, asphalt constitutes about 80 per cent of the road construction material. Proper levelling during the initial attempt saves a lot of valuable material; hence, cost saving. What are your important products in sensor pavers? What are the distinguished features? We offer the entire range of sensor pavers in the wheeled and tracked segments from 2.5 m to 10 m paving widths. The pavers are of the latest technology. In our fleet, we have offerings to suit the paving of rural roads to national highways (expressways and super expressways) ideally suited for paving sub-base, base courses and the top asphalt layers. The company, from the past four decades, is focused on made-in-India and provides customised solutions meeting current and future demands in paving technologies. With the Ammann Apollo product range, we can offer a small paver with 1.5 m paving width for various applications, including asphalt walkways, which is unique in its class. Most pavers are within the transportable width and can be moved in regular truck or trailer. With hydraulic extendible screed and easy coupling and decoupling extensions, pavers can be quickly brought into transportable mode. Most pavers with wheels make it easy to move a short distance within the site on transport mode. The pavers are designed for easy transportation in locally available trucks; with the hydraulically extendable screed it is quite easy. What are the major factors that will drive demand for sensor pavers? Moving forward, the government may make the use of sensor pavers mandatory, even for rural roads. No doubt, the increase in the award of road construction jobs will definitely drive the demand for sensor pavers, but this will not be directly proportional as there is a certain percentage of idle capacity as well. Having said that, the market for sensor pavers is expected grow at a CAGR of 7-8 per cent over the next five years.