The Central Road Research Institute (CRRI) launched Rejubit, the first made-in-India rejuvenating agent for restoring and recycling old bitumen roads on Thursday. This agent will reduce the cost of relaying roads by 66% and lower the country’s import burden. Gadkari also emphasised the need for eco-friendly and cost-effective road solutions to support India’s growing infrastructure. (Nitin Gadkari | Official X account) Using this new agent, old road materials can be recycled at one-third of the existing cost using imported additives, Ambika Behl, senior principal scientist at CRRI, told HT. Once available at scale, this chemical agent will also significantly reduce the demand for new raw materials, a significant portion of which are currently imported, she added. Union minister for road transport and highways Nitin Gadkari speaking at the launch said this material will also help India’s ambitious economic goals as India needs to reduce its import bill. “The capacity of our country’s refineries is 50 lakh tons, and our requirement is 95 lakh tons. So, 45 lakh tons of bitumen are imported,” he said. Also …