This year, BMC plans to spend Rs 79 crore on pothole repairs, despite its continuous attempts to eliminate potholes in Mumbai through substantial road concretisation. Nonetheless, the growing number of concrete roads has contributed to a decrease in potholes and repair expenses, according to local officials. The BMC invested over Rs 220 crore on pothole repairs last year. According to the official, this year’s 60% cost reduction demonstrates the advantages of road concretisation.
So far, the BMC has concreted 1,333 km of roads throughout the city as part of the ambitious “Pothole-Free Mumbai” campaign. As the monsoon draws near, the BMC has set a goal to finish 400 more kilometres of concreted roads by May 31.
In Phase 1, 260 of the 700 roads that were taken up have been finished, and in Phase 2, 1,421 roads have started construction, 56 of which have already been finished. After the monsoon, other roads that are planned for concretisation will be kept pothole-free with interim solutions like mastic, quick-setting concrete, micro-surfacing, and geopolymer filling.
For the approaching monsoon, the BMC will shortly issue tenders totalling Rs 79 crores to patch potholes on city and suburban roads. In the last six years, the number of potholes has decreased from 92,000 to 32,000, according to a top city official. Road concretisation has significantly contributed to the decrease of potholes around the city, as seen by the decreased cost of road repairs.
Eknath Shinde, the deputy chief minister, promised that Mumbai’s roads will be free of potholes for the next 25 years once they were concretised during a recent visit to examine ongoing road construction.
Due to infractions in Mumbai’s cement concretisation campaign, the BMC recently revoked the registration of two RMC facilities and fined two road contractors Rs 20 lakh each. Additionally, the plants are prohibited from providing concrete for a period of six months.
Source: The Free Press Journal
