At a press briefing held yesterday on the opening of an innovation centre, foreign representatives with decades of expertise in the construction sector questioned the widespread usage of Ordinary Portland Cement in Sri Lanka.
They said that given the increasing height of buildings and the environmental damage caused by the product it was likely that widespread usage would decrease.
Executive Vice President Sale Jan Kunigk said, “I know what I am doing. In Singapore Ordinary Portland Cement is forbidden for a reason. The reason ordinary is there for a reason, In Australia it is not used anymore. Even India and Bangladesh don’t use it anymore. We have spoken to many institutions and we hear the need for local research.”
He added “We are committed in very tough economic times. We are serious and long term thinkers. We want to have the latest technologies like in the top countries of the world.
Head of Product and Solutions INSEE Cement Dr Moussa Baalbaki said, “Ordinary Portland Cement is being used for over a hundred years. In Sri Lanka more than 80 percent of the industry is still using it which has a very high CO2 footprint.
He added, “Every kilogram of cement I put in my concrete is a kilogram of CO2. We need to develop a solution. We have to walk the talk. Our share of green product is 80 percent. The number of CO2 we are saving for instance with Santa is 40 million tons of CO2. That is 40,000 cars in Sri Lanka covering 20,000 kilometers.
Baalbaki said, “We would like to change from a linear thinking to a more circular thinking. We need 15 million cubic meter of concrete every year in Sri Lanka. For the planet this is about 7 billion cubic meters. “He likened this to building New York City every 3 weeks.
Concrete accounts for about 7 percent of CO2 emissions. Innovation to Industry Collaboration Space was opened in Peliyagoda on October 31 with over 300 stakeholders from the construction industry. The space was likened to a flagship store for cement by Kunigk Competitors and all types of contractors are welcome to use the centre. The company has a public lecture organized every month on construction.
On the new centre Kunigk said, “We brought this into Sri Lanka even though economic times are tough. We continue to invest and educate people. We can really come to the level of Singapore or Australia. There is no reason for Sri Lanka to lag behind the innovation curve.
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