The government has taken initiative to use coconut fibre or coir in the road construction activity. The National Rural Roads Development Agency (NRRDA) has approved Central Coir Research Institute (CCRI) as a nodal institute for application of coir geotextiles in construction of rural roads.
Indian Roads Congress (IRC), New Delhi has also given the accreditation for the use of coir geotextiles in the roads for a period of 2 years with effect from April 18, 2011. For the evaluation of its effectiveness, inter-alia a collaborative project has been initiated by the Central Coir Research Institute with the National Institute of Technology, Calicut with the in-principle approval of the Airports Authority of India.
Coir (coconut fiber) geotextiles are a popular solution for erosion control, slope stabilisation and bioengineering, due to the coir fabric’s substantial mechanical strength.
Classified as woven, meshes, nets and non-wovens,, it lasts about 3 to 5 years depending on the fabric weight. It also degrades into humus, thus, enriching the soil.
Coir Geotextiles when used on the soft soil for construction of village roads have been found to perform very well as reinforcement, filter, drainage and separation materials in comparison to the conventionally used materials like synthetics, cement, lime, etc.
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