VIJAYAWADA: Maintaining that there is no sand scarcity in the state, the AP Mineral Development Corporation (APMDC) has said it is planning to store at least 50 lakh metric tonnes of sand for the monsoon season.
“Against the average demand of 60,000 to 80,000 metric tonnes of sand a day, we excavate around 1.20 lakh metric tonnes. Thus, on an average, we will have a surplus stock of at least 50,000 metric tonnes. We will transport it to sand depots being set up in various districts and keep the stock ready to meet the demand in monsoon,’’ said Y Dosi Reddy, Officer on Special Duty on sand.
Speaking to TNIE, he said sand has been excavated across 81 reaches, 60 patta lands and being stored in 240 stockyards and around 50 sand depots and are door-delivering the construction material to customers within the stipulated 72 hours after booking.
Admitting that there was some delay because of non-availability of sand in the nearby reaches/stockpoints of some localities and the locals not opting to book sand from the nearest stock point, he said door delivery of sand being implemented in 11 out of the total 13 districts. “The facility will be commenced in Kurnool and Chittoor districts from Monday,” he added.
There is an average demand of 20 lakh metric tonnes of sand per month. As there are chances of the sand mining getting affected due to floods in monsoon, we have calculated that there would be a demand of 60 lakh metric tonnes in three months of monsoon and are planning to store the required sand accordingly.
As the construction activity will also come down during the monsoon, we are of the view that reserving at least 50 lakh metric tonnes of sand is enough for meeting the demand. Accordingly, we have commenced the exercise to identify the locations for arranging sand depots.
According to the capacity of the depots, we will store 3 lakh to 5 lakh metric tonnes of sand in each depot. As part of this exercise, we have already stored 2.50 lakh metric tonnes of sand,” he asserted.