Cement prices in city rise due to doldrums in Andhra Pradesh

Hyderabad: In what can be called a cascading effect, the lack of sand in the neighbouring state of Andhra Pradesh has jacked up the prices of cement in Telangana, a 50 kg bag of cement costing anywhere between Rs 350 to Rs 400, as against the usual price of Rs 250.

According to those in the know of things, the ‘cartelisation’ of cement traders in both states is due to the lack of construction activity in AP. “The recent torrential rainfall in Andhra Pradesh has resulted in a lack of river sand available for construction.

In a bid to make up for their losses, cement traders are hiking the prices in Telangana,” said a member of Telangana Developers’ Association, requesting anonymity. These cartels, he said, are making hay while the sun shines.

The cartels usually hike the prices wherever there is a lot of construction activity. “There is no let-up in construction activity in the city or the whole of Telangana for that matter. Taking advantage of these circumstances, the price of cement has been increased,”  he adds.

To meet the city’s sand needs, he said that the real-estate in the city has developed, hence they are using robo-sand to take up tiling and other menial work.

“These sands cannot be used for slab-work but can be used for laying tiles. So that is keeping the real-estate booming in Hyderabad,” he said.

River sand which is apt for construction is usually procured from the riversides in Andhra Pradesh.  However, in a bid to tackle the ongoing crisis, the Andhra Pradesh government has announced that a ‘Sand Week’ would be conducted from November 14 to 21 to solve the sand crisis in the state.

The average sand demand in Andhra Pradesh is 80,000 tons. Due to floods and sinking of the reaches, this demand could not be met. Over the past week, the situation has improved considerably and the mining has increased to 1.20 lakh tonnes on a daily basis.