Mumbai: To ensure that pothole-related complaints are attended to promptly during this monsoon, the civic authorities have instructed road engineers to go on two-wheelers and experience the ride themselves. This will help them to detect the pothole/ badpatch immediately and get it filled within 48 hours, claims the senior official. The deputy and assistant municipal commissioner have also been instructed to monitor road repair work in their respective wards.
The BMC nominates one sub-engineer for each of the 227 civic electoral wards to ensure that all the potholes-related complaints are attended to on time. These engineers will have to visit the spot and ensure that the contractor fills the bad patch with mastic asphalt. "They won't understand the road condition by just going by BMC vehicle (four wheeler). Mostly, two-wheelers face bumpy rides while driving on roads with potholes. The civic engineers have been instructed to visit the spot personally by two-wheelers. We should be able to trace the potholes when they are a few inches. So that it is filled on time and does not increase in centimetres," said a senior civic official.
The BMC receives all the pothole-related complaints from the citizens, social media and local representatives. It also has its own pothole tracking system on which the citizens can upload and send pictures of potholes. One contractor for each of the seven zones has been appointed to fill the potholes. The potholes are filled with mastic asphalt, since it was found to be useful. The BMC recently conducted a brainstorming session for 300 road engineers, where experts from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Bombay guided them on improving the quality of concrete roads in the city.
Meanwhile, two firms have responded to the tender to concretise 212 roads in the island city. Both APCO InfraProjects Ltd, which has experience in the construction of state and national highways, and NCC Ltd, which is currently engaged in road concretisation in the western suburbs, have submitted their bids, and the winning bidder is likely to be chosen by the first week of June. The work order will be issued after the model code of conduct is withdrawn. While the actual work for another 312 km of roads will start post monsoon, said a senior civic official.
The civic body awarded the contract for the first phase of concretisation of 212 roads to Roadway Solutions India Infra Ltd (RSIIL) in January 2023. But, the Rs.1,687 crore contract was terminated on November 8, 2023, owing to inadequate progress in work, and RSIIL was fined Rs. 64.6 crore.
