Mumbai: After the first shower last week, the BMC has undertaken resurfacing of uneven roads before potholes develop on them. The civic body has appointed 227 sub-engineers to carry out the repair of roads and fill the potholes. A geo-polymer technology will be used on a pilot basis to strengthen the concrete roads. Besides this, an integrated dashboard will be used to track the potholes and to ensure that it gets filled in 24 hours. Around Rs. 275 crores will be spent on filling potholes in this monsoon.
The BMC has undertaken concretisation of 397 km of roads in the city. Out of which nearly 25% of work has been completed, so the ongoing work has been brought to a safe stage to avoid inconvenience in the monsoon. The repair work on roads upto nine metres width has been carried out by two contractors each in seven zones. After heavy rainfall on June 9, the civic authorities instructed all the sub-engineers of wards to immediately resurface the uneven roads instead of waiting for potholes to emerge on them.
"The - 227 sub-engineers in 227 wards have been instructed to inspect roads daily and fill the potholes within 24 hours. That means every engineer has to monitor 10 kms of roads in their area. The uneven roads are being resurfaced to ensure that potholes do not develop on them. However, if potholes are detected on the roads in the monsoon, the engineers will immediately get them filled. The dashboard will provide the number of potholes, their locations and sizes, amount of asphalt used and the time required to fill it," said a senior civic official.
The BMC is using geo-polymer technology to strengthen concrete roads, while micro-surfacing technology is being used during repairs of asphalt roads. "If the cement concrete roads are damaged, geo-polymer concrete is filled in the pit without removing the entire surface, and it is integrated with the original cement concrete. After filling the potholes, that road can be opened for traffic in just two hours, which will prevent inconvenience to the citizens,"added another official.
Dashboard for real-time data...
The BMC uses several methods, like MyBMCPotholeFixiT app, WhatsApp numbers, social media, and central helpline number. Now it will have an integrated system to measure all the complaints related to potholes. The new system will help to track the exact potholes on city roads on any particular day. Other than the number of potholes, it will also update on the size of potholes and the mastic asphalt used to fill them, which will help the BMC to tackle the issue more efficiently.
Crores to be spent on roads...
The BMC will be spending Rs. 545 crore on filling potholes and carrying out resurfacing work of the existing roads in the city during the monsoon this year. Out of which Rs. 275 crores will be for potholes. Last year, Rs 400 crore was spent on filling 70,000 potholes during the monsoon.
