New Generation Equipment Add Value to Urban Infrastructure Projects

The new generation equipment from OEMs are adding new dimension towards execution of urban infrastructure projects in India. Based on the requirements to work at compressed job sites the equipment feature compact design and maneuverability. Versatility, enhanced safety features and ability to work with varied attachments for numerous jobs are the major attributes of the new generation equipment which is getting the projects executed at a rapid pace, enabling the contractors to curtail the running project and to deliver optimum results. The manufacturers and the distributors of the equipment are providing requisite product support. P.P Basistha takes a look at the newer solutions offered by the manufacturers across segments.

Skid Steer Loaders Deliver on Versatility

The role of skid steer loaders is really high in urban infrastructure projects. They are extremely versatile and compact equipment, featuring high level of maneuverability, and go on to deliver immense value with their multiple attachments while working on urban infrastructure projects. The attachments assist in back filling at project sites, breaking rocks, demolishing small structures, boring and bringing debris out from the ground basement area. Backhoe loaders may find it difficult to work at basement levels owing to their bigger size.

Owing to their compact design feature and maneuverability, skid steer loaders can easily be operated when working between pillars to clear debris. This could be in case of underground parking lots or underground metro stations. Being lighter, and compact, the skid steer loaders can be lifted easily with the help of a mobile telescopic crane and can be deployed on elevated metro or high rise construction to undertake material handling functions. The equipment, supported by their attachments can also help towards maintenance of the projects following their completion. This could be changing the landscaping. Other advantages of skid steer loaders attachments are solid waste management, road sweeper, grading and compaction of land for road construction in compressed space. This could be in case of streets or narrow roads within and outside the city limits.

JCB India manufactures two variants in their skid steer loaders segment - JCB 135 and 155 which are advanced in their design. "Skid steer loader is a compact and a maneuverable machine. It is a joystick based machine which can also rotate on its own axis. A skid steer loader is ideal for working in confined areas – best suited for applications like urban clearance or solid waste management." mentions Mr. Jasmeet Singh-Head Corporate Communications, JCB India. The company sold around 100 units last year.

He says, "JCB has designed wide range of attachments for its skid steer range such as Sweeper Collectors, Industrial Fork, Grapple Muck Fork, and Snow Blower etc. The loaders are fully compatible to work with our own attachments and the attachments from other vendors as well."

JCB 135 and 155 are manufactured at the company's flagship Ballabgarh facility in Haryana. Mr. Singh added, "A JCB skid steer is safe, economical and highly productive. With an average of 60% better visibility, with entry and exit from the left side of the machine, the machine has been designed to reduce the operator fatigue and ensure safety at all times. Pressure sealed cab and low effort controls are some of the ergonomically designed features to ensure operator comfort."

"Our Bobcat skid steer loaders are extremely compact designed and come with Kubota engines, making them fuel-efficient and work for longer hours with proven working hours of 30,000 hours plus life.

Vital attachments like Graders, sweepers hydraulic breakers, buckets among our own seventy attachments enable the equipment to deliver high value in urban infrastructure projects," says Mr. Manjunath, Doosan Infracore. Doosan markets its S450, S510, S510, S590 and S770 skid steer loaders in India and has sold more than 30000 units to major builders like Shobha Developers, Lodha and Ashoka Buildcon for highrise commercial and residential projects. Also sold to major municipalities like Chennai,Vizag etc.

Value in Concreting

Catering to the requirements of urban infrastructure projects involving concrete roads, bridge and highrise requiring pumping of concrete at higher rates, equipment manufacturers are offering varied solutions backed by adequate product support.

"Since, urban construction jobs takes place at sites with extreme space paucity, we manufacture concrete batch mix plants with compact design. These plants come with small footprint, making them suitable for urban construction projects. The batch mix plants featuring mobility require minimal time to set up. The plants are calibrated at our factory and the contractor is only required to unfold the plant to carry out the operations. We provide the option of mixing micro silica in our concrete batch mix plant to get the desired concrete mixed," says Mr. V.G. Sakthikumar, MD, Schwing Stetter Sales and services private limited, Chairman of Mechnaisation committee, Builders Association of India.

According to him, the concrete batch mix plants are also suitable for concrete road projects as they can deliver concrete on rigid dump trucks without formation of lumps. Schwing Stetter manufactures CP18, CP30, M1T, M1.25T, M.2.25T, and M2.5 T compact and mobile concrete batch mix plants. The plants can batch concrete between 60-100 cu‎m/hr.


Mr. Sakthikumar says, "For urban highrise construction, we offer SP 2800, SP 2509, SP 3000, SP 3500, SP 4800, and SP 8000 stationery concrete pumps. SP 8800 comes with almost 1km boom length. SP 8000 heavy duty concrete pump has the distinction of being used for pumping concrete at Petronas Towers, Malaysia, one of the world's tallest buildings. One of our unique solutions is mechanized boom placers for distribution of concrete. This is ideal for distribution of concrete on top of the highrise buildings measuring 200 meters." Schwing Stetter India possess dedicated designing and product support engineering personnel for setting and operating the stationary concrete pumps working for highrise projects.

We are offering complete range of stationery concrete pump models 1404 HD, BSA 1405D, BSA 1407D, BSA 1408HD, BSA 2110 HPD and BS 14000 HPD which are capable of pumping concrete from low rise buildings (20-30m height) to high rise construction projects of 100-600m+ heights. The concrete pumps are very much capable of pumping high grade concrete of up to M100 with discharge rate of 40-100 cubic meters/hr. The diesel engines & electric motors in the pumps of 150-470 kw ratings enable them to deliver high productivity and throughput," says Mr. Parminder Gabri, Director Sales, Putzmeister India. Putzmeister's stationery pumps are powered by Volvo Penta, CAT, Deutz & Kirloskar engines.

He adds, "We have carried out advancements in our stationery pumps by adding features for human and machine safety like Hopper Grill, high oil temperature, low engine oil pressure etc. Ergonic Graphic Display systems have also been added which displays key operating parameters of the concrete pump like discharge rate, no. of strokes, fuel level, engine rpm etc."


According to Mr. Gabri, "Through our advanced technical attributes in stationery concrete pumps, these can deliver concrete at higher heights in efficient and safe manner. However, the pumps along with the stationary placing booms have to be provided with appropriate technical support. When pumping high grade of concrete, choking of the pipelines can easily occur hindering optimum discharge of concrete. To avoid this, the pipelines are required to be properly routed and needs to be backed with proper cleaning methods. To ensure that the concrete gets pumped without any hindrance, the layouts of the pumps and the pipelines have to be appropriate as well. We provide all the requisite technical support as above for optimum utilization of the pumps."

Material Handling Advancements

High rise construction projects in India with 150-200 meters and above are coming up in metropolitan cities with severe space constrains. Many of the new buildings are coming up in areas with clusters of other highrise construction at very close vicinity. For this, luffing tower cranes are one of the new solutions in India to assist the projects.

According to Mr. Ramdev, MD, Everest Engineering, "With a shorter counter jib, chances of rear collision of the luffing cranes are negligible if they are working in shorter radius. Further, again with the luffing jib, multiple cranes can work on highrise construction projects without the collision of the jib. Moreover, with the luffing feature, it is highly safe, if the crane is working in areas with high wind velocity."

He explains, "The luffing jibs can be raised for the wind to free flow without causing damage to the crane structure or the jib during the site holidays. By allowing the wind to free flow, pressure on the masts and jib of the crane is greatly minimized. High wind pressure is extremely prevalent in Delhi-NCR, Northern Indian region, and also in sea shore areas. This can act as a lateral force which can pass on to the structure of the construction project consequently effect the strength and life of the building. However, with luffing feature, allowing the wind to free flow, the pressure is extensively discounted."

Everest has commissioned 2 units of 10 tons SYM cranes to Lodha Group which are working for construction of 220 meters high, 65 storied buildings. The SYM cranes come with 43 meters freestanding height as compared to 33-36meters of conventional tower cranes. Another 4 units Luffing cranes of 10t & 8t are working with Capacite Infra Projects Ltd in Parel, Mumbai for 280m height building.

Everest Engineering, exclusively distributes FineHope and SYM flattop and electric luffing cranes in India. SYM and FineHope cranes are equipped with electronic safety system, speed control, etc. Fine Hope tower cranes are available in 32-200 tons, and SYM luffing tower cranes in 8-32 tons. Other products distributed by Everest Engineering in India include GJJ mast climbers, Passenger hoists and tower crane "Anti collision systems".

"Zoomlion-ElectroMech has very recently delivered, 1 unit of L160, 10 tons, luffing tower crane to Alfaraa infraprojects for a project of Lodha Group in Mumbai for 180 meters High Rise Residential Project. It has also delivered one 8ton luffing crane model L100-8F to Omkar Realtors. Both the cranes have been installed one in elevator shaft & other is external luffing crane for real estate projects. The 10ton Luffing crane comes with a 55meter jib length option, which can lift 2.2 tons at tip load and 10 tons at 23 meters radius and has 1010m Hoisting wire rope drum as standard. Mr. Arun Bishnoi, Director-Sales, Zoomlion-ElectroMech Tower Crane India says, "The cranes feature highly compact design, making them easy to operate at constricted site locations. For safety, the cranes are fitted with safe load indicators, and anti collision device."

Value in urban infrastructure projects is claimed to be offered by JCB's new 'Load all' telescopic handler. Mr. Jasmeet Singh, JCB India says, "JCB Loadall comes with variety of attachments which makes the machine more versatile. The widely used attachments are General Purpose Shovel, Heavy Duty Forks, Bucket with Grab, Crane Hook - Fork Mounted, Grain Bucket, Power Grab, Man Platform and Drum Handlers.


Telehandlers have the advantage of placing and lifting loads at height along with the added capability of forward reach. This makes the machine effective in stacking, lifting and placing operations of heavy loads in a safe and productive manner.


Telehandlers have only recently made their way into the Indian Market as compared to the other traditional material handling products. Since this is niche segment at the moment so the market size is quite limited. At JCB, we are already manufacturing Telehandlers in India. These include a 7m machine, the 530-70 and an 11m machine, the 530-110 at the moment, additionally we also offer a 17m machine which is the 540-170 for high lift and reach applications which are imported from UK.

We foresee these machines gaining popularity as these are versatile machines and can do a variety of tasks in the area of Material Handling. Apart from the lift and place applications, these machines can have various attachments that can be mounted on the front end to make it multifunctional.

High utility and offerings in vertical transportation

Safe construction of high rise commercial and residential urban areas is being supported by Man & Material Hoists and Mast Climbers. Apart from enabling safe transportation of man and materials at heights, the equipment can also assist in aluminum and glass claddings, external brick works, external plastering, and maintenance jobs.

"Our NOV series of hoist is specially designed to be Robust and Reliable to give a long and trouble free working life for its owners/operators. With a combined industry experience of more than 90 years, we at Stros Esquire understand the various challenges faced in site conditions across the world. Hence we design our products to be able to withstand harsh and demanding working conditions. All this while keeping Safety as the top most priority. While indigenizing the NOV series for manufacturing in India, we decided to import all critical components of the machine that affect its Reliability and Safety from Stros and their Global suppliers. Hence the NOV series machines made in India are at par with the machines made in Europe in terms of Quality, Performance and Safety," mentions Mr. S. Gladston, CEO - Stros Esquire.

Safe mast climbers are claimed to be manufactured by Universal. According to Mr. A.D. Bhosale, Vice President, Material Handling Division, Universal Axis Lifting Solutions, "Our masts are made in heavy duty round tube, provided with male and female joints that make their erection easier. Further, the accurately machined rack and pinion gives smooth operation, which ensures safety and durability of the platform. Antitilting mechanism of prevents the platform from declining on one side. Overload protection mechanism helps avoid the excess loading on it. The guide rollers maintain accurate tolerance in the movement of the platforms on the mast. Heavy duty chassis with jacks facilitates free standing upto 6 meters above and that anchoring has to be made at an interval of every three meters."


Universal manufactures 1, 2.5 and 4 tons of XYGO series of mast climbers in single and twin masts at its Shivare plant near Pune in Western India. The company has recently supplied no of units to JMC projects in Bengaluru, Kolkata and Delhi for 100 meters residential construction project.

Universal also manufactures different models of Suspended Rope Platforms: UHP 200 with maximum height of 100 mtr rated load of 200 kg and platform of 1.5 mtr, UHP 800 with a maximum height of 300 mtr, rated load of 800kg and platform of 2.5/5/7.5 mtr and UHP 1000 with a maximum height of 300 mtr, rated load of 1000kg and platform of 5 mtr. The application of the suspended rope platforms are for external plastering, painting, aluminium and glass cladding, cleaning of highrise building structures. The platforms are suspended along the building façade by wire ropes. It moves up and down with the help of electric motor through the suspended mechanism installed at the top of the building. Platform has some special features like over load protection mechanism, anti tiliting, anti sway and safety lock mechanism for safe operation.

Hydraulic rock breakers find myriad applications

Owing to safety reasons, conventional drilling and blasting are prohibited at construction sites in urban areas. As an alternate primary breaking solution, hydraulic rock breakers find rising usage at construction sites in urban locations. Rock breakers are being used at large scale in highrise construction and other urban infrastructure projects requiring foundation in Delhi-NCR region which is known for its high prevalence of extremely hard and abrasive rocks wherein hydraulic rock breakers are of great assistance for breaking them to facilitate foundation.


JCB India's range of hydraulic breakers includes HM360HD / HM380 for backhoe loaders and 8 ton excavator, HM980HD / HM1180 / HM2180HD for excavators of 12-22 Ton. The company has recently launched two new models of hydraulic rock breakers HM980HD and HM2180HD suitable for 12, 14 & 20 ton for excavators. "We have timely upgrades for our products based on the feedback from our users. Our offerings are backed by Industry proven technology and market leading after-market support. The product range is competitive in terms of price, durability and reliability. We always ensure minimal operating costs to the end user," says Mr. Jasmeet Singh, JCB India.

Highrise construction in metro cities require below ground free level for vehicle parking purposes. Hydraulic rock breakers are being extensively used to break the rock boulders at the ground level prior to the foundation. The other key applications include digging of road surface for laying pipelines and other utilities. The equipment are extensively used in controlled demolition for existing houses and other infrastructure projects to create new infrastructure in its place.

Targeting the growing application of hydraulic rock breakers in urban infrastructure projects, Doosan India is offering its 'economy' and 'premium' range of breakers of 2-5 tons base equipment of skid steer loaders and BHL, Mini excavators. "Bobcat sells premium range of breakers is almost a price difference of 40-50% higher between two ranges of breakers suitable for myriad applications in crushing. For higher volumes applications, the 'premium' range of breakers is more suitable. One of the prominent features of Bobcat is designed for ruggedness and highly reliable" says, Mr. Manjunath, Doosan Infracore.

Mr. Siddhartha Sarkar, Associate General Manager-Sales Furukawa Drill India says, "Our improved FXJ series hydraulic rock breakers economize total cost of operations. The prominent features of FXJ series are that it has no through bolts, redesigned piston, long rod pin, and improved greasing. Owing to mono block design and incorporation of cylinder liners, the life of the cylinders in the breakers is now increased. Without through bolt systems the breakers are also 15-20% less expensive to maintain. FXJ breakers are suited for typical applications of foundation, quarrying trenching, railway construction, and bridge & road projects."

He continues, "Combined with our improved FXJ and FXP series, we offer wide range of breakers that can be mounted on base excavator carriers 1-100 tons providing at least 20-30% higher level of rock breaking. The box frame design of our breakers achieves total performance and lower sound level. Lesser bolts and nuts design also makes scheduled maintenance quicker. One of the prominent features of the FXJ series of breakers is that they are thermal resistant that makes them suitable to work in a temperature above 30 degree, making them ideal for Indian conditions."