Mumbai rains: BMC introduces Alcomix to fill up potholes and resurface cement concrete pavement

The BMC has openly admitted that flooding is bound to happen in case of rainfall over 200 mm. The other inevitable impact of monsoon on the city is potholes and the consequent barrage of complaints by citizens on social media.

Recently, the civic body experimented with a new rapid setting material, Alcomix, to fill up potholes and to resurface cement concrete pavement. This material was used on Barrister Rajni Patel Road in Churchgate. The proclaimed successful experiment will now be tested in other areas and situations, too.

The BMC spends nearly Rs 2,000 crore on roads every year. This is apart from the budget allocation for big-ticket projects like the Coastal road, Ghatkopar-Mankhurd Link Road, and various bridges. The city has a road network of 2,000 km, of which 983 km are already concretised. Roads constructed with cement concrete have a life of about 30 years. The BMC has, therefore, planned to take up concretisation of 211 km which is also expected to resolve the issue of potholes during monsoon. In the next five years, the civic body is planning to construct 1,977 roads into cement concrete.

In a bid to make Mumbai roads pothole-free, the BMC has earlier used ultra-thin white topping technology on asphalt roads. The new Alcomix has been developed by executive engineer of the BMC, Vishal Thombre.

The location where this mixture has been used will be under observation the entire monsoon, even as civic officials conduct other tests with it.

The Process

With the help of a cutter machine, a cut is made where there is a pit on the road. After clearing stones and soil, water is mixed with a polymer, cement and sand. The mixture is then poured into the pit with the help of a machine. Deputy municipal commissioner (infrastructure) Ulhas Mahale said, “We are still working on its logistics and costing. Its advantage is that the potholes can be filled within half an hour and the road can be opened for traffic after two to four hours.”

Published on: Wednesday, May 25, 2022, 06:54 AM IST