BMC begins repair of 300 roads, focus on making cement paths

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“Roads constructed with cement concrete have a life of about 25 years. So far, more than 1,000 km road network has been turned into cement concrete. This will also resolve the issue of potholes during monsoon,” said an official from the BMC. As per the master plan, the civic body has identified 1,977 roads that will be gradually turned into cement concrete between 2022-23 and 2026-27.

“Since the monsoon is very close, by May 31, the work will be brought to a safe stage. The work will start again from October 1,” said another official from the roads department. Besides these new road works, the repair on 217 from last year is in progress.

The BMC has also issued a circular to install utility ducts along the newly constructed cement concrete roads. For this financial year, duct along with the 25 km of cement road across the city is expected to be installed. However, the contractors and the lower rank officials from the roads department are showing reluctance to duct work calling it a time consuming practice at this stage.

“The absence of duct is one of the biggest reasons Mumbai’s roads are filled with potholes. In many cases, newly repaired roads were excavated due to utility works. Once the original surface is damaged, the road becomes more prone to potholes,” said an official from BMC.
There are over 40 utility agencies like gas, water pipelines, storm water drain lines, telecommunication lines, power lines etc.

“Utility ducts are one of the important components for better roads,” said P Velrasu, Additional Municipal Commissioner (Projects).