Road ministry seeks to excise duty exemption for cement so that roads can be built
For the establishment of buildings and concrete roads, the road transport and highway ministry has been working hard to excise exemption of duty for cement. It was quite recently that this proposal came up. It happened right after the current Modi government planned to establish more highways using cement rather than option for bitumen roads.
Nitin Gadkari who happens to be the road transport minister had also organized a meeting with the NHAI officials as well as the top ministry. Here the discussion was based on coming with more highways which are concrete and are made up of cement. The meeting was conducted on Tuesday.
Reliable sources have mentioned that the current agencies of the government have declared that concrete roads become viable only when the prices are good enough for competition. However, they have not shown any kind of animosity or protestation against any move.
Officials have also mentioned that there might be a fall in cement prices if there are long term rate contracts with the companies manufacturing cement. This will be done so that changes in prices can be kept miles away from.
Source – Dipak K Dash, TNN
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