- Hiten Kapadia, Business Line Manager-Road Construction Equipment, Atlas Copco India Ltd With its complete range of road construction equipment and expertise in compaction and paving applications, Atlas Copco is set to deliver higher quality roads in India. The company has an established set up in India for road construction equipment, and together with its proven Dynapac technology, it is able to take on new initiatives and new ways of doing things in the form of special packages designed specifically for the end customer and contractors. Hiten Kapadia, Business Line Manager-Road Construction Equipment, Atlas Copco India Ltd, shares more on the roads sector and the company´s offerings... How do you view the current scenario in the roads and highways sector? Recent surveys on road development in India indicate that in developing markets like ours, road infrastructure will be an extremely important component to support the growth opportunities. The market is opening up and many projects are in the pipeline. There is a positive outlook towards overall business and industry growth, bringing in faster decision-making and accountability. Today, there are some good opportunities for all types of sub-contractors and contractors. The construction of 30 km of roads a day, to be achieved in two years. Your comments. Although the pace has been slow after elections, finally there has been some action on the ground in the last six months. The awarded contracts are now witnessing implementation, which is the trigger to the positive market outlook. Aiming high is good - 30 km is the requirement based on the need of the nation. We are optimistic and geared up. There is a shift from BOT to hybrid annuity model. Has this materialised into demand for equipment? Changing the business model should be effective and is maybe a step in the right direction by minimising the risk for contractors in upcoming project contracts. This according to me, will result in confidence building and with timely project finance availability, it will also possibly revive the inactive big players in the road construction segment. The last six months show that a number of projects entering implementation stage, have improved drastically. We are prepared to meet the sudden surge of equipment requirements and are also working on generating inquiries from potential customers. Introduce us to your equipment for this sector. All Dynapac machines offered by the company are designed for the toughest conditions. Specifically, Dynapac paver finishers have unique features such as high compaction screed to pave high layers of thickness in one go. With the high compaction screed, a pre compaction of approximately 95 per cent is achieved easily, followed by Dynapac high frequency Tandem rollers and Dynapac Pneumatic tyred rollers, which complete the compaction process of the thick layer. For lower operating cost, the Dynapac CA255 Soil Compactor has the most advanced compaction technique to achieve the end result in minimum passes. The recently launched Dynapac CC425 Tandem Roller offers lower fuel consumption, and compaction is achieved with higher frequency, which provides higher productivity as compared to the same class of machines available in the Indian market. In terms of product specifications, our soil compactors range from 4 to 27 tonne class; asphalt compactors range from 1 to 18 tonne; pneumatic tyred rollers from 6 to 30 tonne; paver finishers 1.8 to 14 m; paving width and milling machines from 0.35 to 2 m cutting-width with excellent manoeuvrability and effortlessly achieve a depth of 200 to 300 mm. In fact, the small cutting radius of only 230 mm, makes the high performance Dynapac PL1000 compact planers flexible for milling even around manholes. A new local addition to the portfolio is the Dynapac CC125 baby roller, which offers the best operator dashboard and has the highest gradeability of 38 per cent in its class. This new roller has low operating cost with lower fuel consumption and lower maintenance cost in its class. What are your expectations for the sector and the company in 2016-17? By virtue of increased demand, there will be an increase in the business for all equipment manufacturing companies. We hope good growth continues till 2018 and beyond. If the demand for road construction equipment increases at the expected good pace, then in 2016, equipment manufacturers will invest in increasing production capacities in the country, to cater to the reinforced and continued product requirement in the Indian market.