Himachal to use FDR technology for the first time in road construction, reducing costs by 80%

Himachal Pradesh is ready to build its first road with (Full Depth Reclamation) FDR technology in the Ghumarwin subdivision, as announced by Rajesh Dharmani, the Technical Education Minister, on Thursday. This initiative is expected to promote the idea of sustainable infrastructure.

The officials have informed that the construction of the 7-kilometre Gahar-Naswal road will cost ₹ 5.50 crore and benefit 5,000 locals. According to them, FDR technology is expected to reduce costs by nearly 80%.

Full Depth Reclamation (FDR) is a pavement rehabilitation technique where the entire thickness of an existing asphalt pavement and a predetermined portion of the underlying materials are uniformly pulverized and mixed with stabilizers, such as cement or lime, to create a new, homogeneous and stabilized base layer.

This process recycles the existing pavement materials to form a durable foundation for new road surfaces, offering a cost-effective and sustainable solution for road repair. Roads constructed with this technique are comparatively more durable.

According to Dharmani, around 113 state roads will be built using the FDR technology in the initial phase.

Last year, Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu instructed the Public Works Department to employ FDR technology for the construction of 666 km of roads across all districts under the Prime Minister Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY).

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