Bangkok (NNT/VNA) - The government has continued to push for the increased use of rubber in the construction of roads nationwide by having rubber resin mixed with para soil cement.
Deputy government spokesman Lt Gen Weerachon Sukhonthapatipak said Prime Minister Gen Prayut Chan-o-cha has been briefed by the Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives about the ministry’s meeting, with members of rubber traders’ associations and representatives of five rubber exporting firms, on the low price of rubber in the export market. All parties have agreed to the conclusion that the futures markets overseas have suppressed the rubber prices in the domestic market and middlemen are reported to be keeping the rubber prices fluctuating in the futures markets.
The government has continued to promote the increased use of rubber in the country by using it in the construction of roads nationwide. The Rubber Authority of Thailand began to buy fresh resin instead of rubber sheets. Rubber traders will supply the fresh resin, bought by the RAOT, to local administrative organisations for use in the construction of roads.
The RAOT has calculated that about 13 tonnes of fresh resin can make a kilometre of road. If the resin is bought for 46 baht per kilogram, a rubber tree planter will earn nearly 200,000 baht per kilometre of road. The Department of Highways has assured that the surface of roads made of a mixture of resin and para soil cement is more resilient and durable in hot weather than the surface of road made of asphalt and cement. – NNT/VNA
VNA