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Moving Forward for Green Bricks
T he brick sector in India is one of the largest and a major contributor to the 9 per cent growth witnessed by the construction industry. The industry, spread over 150,000 units employing eight million workers seasonally to produce 170 million bricks, is one which mindlessly guzzles over 24 million tones of coal to produce 42 million tones of CO2 emissions. Further it robs the agriculture sector, the backbone of the Indian economic structure, of 350 million tones of fertile top soil. The industry; due to its decentralised structure, rising energy requirements, rising cost of raw materials and labor shortages; finds itself on the brink of chaos, with the state playing an inactive role to address this situation.Though India is producing a
large quantity of bricks, the production is done with obsolete
technology namely the Bulls Trench Kiln (BTK) technology. Though there
are currently technologies which are not only more efficient but also
more eco friendly both in terms of resource usage and also emissions
quantities, brick entrepreneurs are not given enough incentives to
change their production techniques. What is sad is that so much is
possible if the government first applies more stringently the policies
it has already put in place and applies thought into providing an
atmosphere, which is a catalyst to growth in this sector.
One such policy states that the State will procure 20 per cent of its resources from the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME). However, the procurement in reality is merely 5 per cent or about 8,500 crores. If the procurement is high, the total revenue may go as high as 34,000 crores.1 Some of the steps ahead in the policy arena that could be used to emphasis cleaner technologies are as follows: • A preferential regime on using fly ash bricks in construction by making better usage of the schedule of rates – used to procure materials by Public Works Department (PWD) • Provision of green credits or subsidies or clearances required by government infrastructural projects only if such resources are used. This would cause state owned consumers to consume more clean materials products, hence providing the entrepreneurs in this sector more teeth and profit margins, which would be an incentive • Also providing necessary intermediaries which will help in channeling of liquid money to the entrepreneurs. This is important as the size of individual entrepreneurs is very small. This leads to a lack of confidence by the banks in such entrepreneurs. But when a monetary organisation which is specialised for this technique is ready to distribute the funds the banks may be more trusting • Spreading of awareness of the need and positives of techniques like Vertical Shaft Brick Kiln (VSBK) and Fly Ash technology. Assistance should be provided in starting off such ventures is required especially in the small clusters as these technologies will bring in higher employment. They also have the added advantage of being a yearly sector unlike other brick technologies which are seasonal. • Bringing down the time delay in the formalities in applying loans, flexible loans for ventures having usage of newer green and clean technologies The state needs to set a precedent, by which it can instill confidence in this obsolete sector, it needs to move more efficiently on the provisions in the pipeline – such as the ‘Green Procurement Policy’ and make sure that those already present are followed properly. The steps have to be taken on an immediate basis, as the need for bricks will always be ubiquitous. q Rohan George 1 http://smetimes.tradeindia.com |
