Ismail Bulut, CEO at Turkish Cement Producers’ Association (TCMB), and the accompanying board pays a visit to Energy Industrialists and Businessmen Association (ENSIA) and they have given insight into concrete roads and the latest innovative developments in the cement sector.
Noting that dependence on foreign oil sources hold a very important place in foreign deficit and current account deficit, Huseyin Vatansever, Chairman at ENSIA, says, “the dependence rate of the oil imports importing about 27 million tonnes every year is around 98%. Imported oil is transformed into products used in daily life and industry. One of these products is asphalt used in road construction. While the life span of concrete roads, which are not recognised in Turkey, can extend up to 50 years, asphalt roads are required to be remade every 7-8 years at least.” Turkey ranks first in European cement production and fourth in the world. In the field of exports, we rank first in Europe and the third in the world. More concrete ways means making more investments in Turkey by way of using the cement, the local source of our country. Concrete ways, which are not recognised in Turkey, have been used all over the world for over a hundred years. The first concrete road was built in 1891 in the US, where 25% of the highways are concrete. 25 percent of highways in Germany, 75 percent in Austria and about 50 percent in Belgium are made of concrete. In Canada, 90% of the highways that drive heavy traffic are made of concrete. We call on our government and all bureaucracy, whom are decision-makers, to focus more on this issue ”
Saving Up To An Eurasian Tunnel Every 4 Years
Ismail Bulut, CEO at Turkish Cement Producers’ Association (TCMB), suggests, “should Turkey prefers concrete roads, it is possible to save as much as the investment cost of the Eurasian Tunnel every 4 years instead of the annual maintenance cost of asphalt roads” Bulut, on the other hand, explains asphalting cannot be made except for 5-6 months, whereas this number increases up to 9 to 10 months for concrete roads and says:
“In recent years, awareness of concrete roads in local governments of Denizli, Samsun, Tekirdag and Eskisehir has been increasing rapidly. However, we are still far behind our potential in developed countries. Thanks to today’s technology, it is possible to make concrete roads with asphalt machines. As a non-governmental organization, which sees itself as the owner of this matter, we are ready to put all our manpower, 62 years of technical knowledge and infrastructure into the service of local governments. We believe that we will carry out very successful projects together with local administrations in Izmir.