Mumbai: The BMC claimed that the reactive asphalt technology – which was used for the first time to fix potholes in Khar – has proved effective. Following its 'success', Ecogreen Infra Development, the company appointed by the civic body, has distributed reactive asphalt material to all 24 civic wards.
BMC chief Iqbal Singh Chahal and Additional Municipal Commissioner P Velrasu have instructed all engineers concerned to now fix potholes dotting Mumbai roads with this tech.
Every monsoon, the civic body has to wade through severe criticism over its 'poor' management of roads. To resolve the perennial issue, the BMC started with fixing of potholes and started patching craters with reactive asphalt mix in H-East ward (Khar) on a pilot project basis. It claimed that the mixture doesn't take much time to set in and traffic can be allowed to move the fixed patch after two hours.
Reactive Asphalt
Describing other features of the technology, the BMC said that reactive asphalt is a type of asphalt mixed with chemicals and gravels, which makes it more stronger than normal asphalt. It has been also noticed that after using this mix, no complaints against potholes have been received from the citizens, the civic body added.
2 other methods to fix potholes
Apart from reactive asphalt, rapid hardening concrete and cold mix are two other methods used to fix potholes. However, rapid hardening needs a dry surface and six hours to set in while cold mix is used to fix craters running six metres deep. So far, the BMC has provided 1,300 metric tonnes of cold mix to the wards.
Besides the 2,000-km-long road network, the civic body has been now entrusted with the responsibility of repairing Eastern and Western Express Highways, and Eastern Freeway, which were previously managed by the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority. So far, just 900 km roads have been turned into cement concrete paths.
