The Times of India          21.08.2013

Civic body drafts 7,000 crore plan to resurface roads

MUMBAI: Days after the Bombay high court took suo motu action against the BMC and other agencies for bad roads and accidents caused by potholes, the civic body has prepared a Rs 7,000-crore master plan to fix the problem. It will submit the plan to the HC by September 5.

The BMC has drafted a "preliminary micro-level master plan with a macro picture" for re-laying roads with a four-year vision- from 2013 to 2017.

Under the plan, roads will be divided into two categories-cement and asphalt-and will be given priority in terms of traffic density and those that are in bad shape. "We will give priority to roads that have not been re-laid for the last four years and are outside the defect liability period," said S V R Srinivas, additional civic commissioner. After a road is built or re-laid, it is under the DLP for a fixed period of time, and any damage to the road during this period is the contractor's responsibility, who has to undertake repairs for free.

The BMC will then re-lay major roads, such as Dr Ambedkar Road, Reay Road, Barrister Nath Pai Road in Kalachowkie and Acharya Dhonde Marg in Parel (E). It will then focus on arterial roads, such as Sai Baba Marg connecting Dr Ambedkar Road and Parel Tank Road.

"Design consultants will be appointed and all roads more than 60ft wide will be concretized," said Srinivas. "Experts opine that for every 5km road, 15%-20% should be resurfaced every year, as the lifeline of an asphalt road is only five years. As contractors do not maintain roads, we plan to include a maintenance clause in the tender."

The BMC will also be open to exploring new new technology like ultra thin white topping(UTWT) for roads with low traffic density, parking lots and also other material like polymer modified bitumen (PMB). Special teams comprising civic engineers will be formed to constantly monitor, audit and conduct quality checks along with BMC's vigilance department.

The HC had rapped the BMC over the pothole menace. Municipal commissioner Sitaram Kunte had claimed that 400-500km of roads are dug up by utilities, who do not fill up the trenches properly, thus creating potholes. Kunte had told the HC they were working towards utility mapping and coordinated the placement of underground utilities to ensure good roads.