Green initiatives in the construction sector will be taken to achieve the vision of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to make the country carbon neutral by 2070, the Union road transport and highways minister, Nitin Gadkari, said. While addressing the media, on Thursday, the minister said under the leadership of the PM, all steps will be taken to make the country clean and garbage-free.

He also said in the ongoing “Swachhata Hi Seva” fortnight, several programmes, including cleanliness drive along national highways, wayside amenities, dhabas, toll plazas, have been planned at 13,000 locations and work has been completed in almost 7000 locations.

Urban areas across the country face a major environmental challenge in the disposal of solid waste generated every day. Gadkari said about 10,000 hectares of land is locked in dump sites and informed that his ministry is working on solutions to utilize urban solid waste in highway construction.

He also said creating wealth from waste is possible through technology and visionary leadership.

Talking about the alternate biofuels in the country, Gadkari said he has been a strong proponent of creating an “ethanol economy” and has been pushing for large-scale uptake of ethanol to boost the agricultural growth by 6%.

He said the IOCL plant in Panipat converts agricultural waste, like rice straw, into ethanol and bio bitumen. He added that by 2025, there will be a mandate to use 1% sustainable aviation fuel with prospective plans to escalate to 5% blending in India in the future. Indian Oil is establishing a plant in Panipat with a capacity to produce 87,000 tonnes of sustainable aviation fuel, he added.

Sustainable alternative to diesel

The minister said that in India, the telecom sector operates approximately 6 lakh mobile towers. Traditionally, these towers have been reliant on diesel generator sets for power, with one tower consuming around 8,000 litres of diesel annually. This cumulatively results in a staggering consumption of 250 crore litres of diesel, costing around Rs 25,000 crore every year. Integration of ethanol as a fuel for these generator sets offers a sustainable alternative to diesel and the market has already developed a generator set on 100% ethanol.

He then highlighted that the government is now pushing the generator-driven industries to only operate on ethanol-based generators in the time to come.