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Road Development

Only major roads to be concretised

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The Times of India      21.09.2010

Only major roads to be concretised

 NAGPUR: Nagpur Municipal Corporation has shelved its earlier plan of concretising 234 roads of nine and 12 metre width. It will now concretise 71 major roads of 18 metre width that are in extremely bad condition with innumerable potholes and shoddy patchwork.

NMC sources informed that standing committee chairman Sandeep Joshi and municipal commissioner Sanjeev Jaiswal recently conducted survey of all the ninemetre 12-metre internal roads proposed by local corporators for concretization and found them of no relevance to needs of every growing traffic on major roads.

Now, the civic body will take up concretisation of 71 roads having total length of over 140 km across the city. The present tar roads will be given a 8 to 10 inch thick concrete coating as per norms and codes set up by Indian Roads Congress (IRC). These are expected to remain virtually intact for 30 to 35 years as against three to five life of tar roads. The project will cost NMC Rs 250 crore.

Joshi confirmed that NMC public works department has been asked to re-survey 71 major roads and put up the proposal before standing committee for approval within a month. If this comes through, the city may get to major roads like Khamla to Orange City hospital square, Laxmi Nagar to Bajaj Nagar to Laxmi Bhuvan square, Munje square to Anand Talkies turn into concrete before next monsoon, he added.

During the BJP-Shiv Sena government in state, the then PWD minister Nitin Gadkari had constructed 30 km of cement roads in the city. These are still doing well and need little or no maintenance. However, these are full concret roads whereas ones to be built now will have concrete laid over existing bitumen surface.

"We have planned these new concrete topping roads to provide smooth and potholefree rides in the next few years across city," Joshi added. "Initial estimates of the work are ready and the final plan will be ready by monthend. After getting technical sanction from structural designer, tenders will be floated.

 

`5,383 cr for roads in 5 yrs, potholes stay

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Hindustan Times  21.09.2010

`5,383 cr for roads in 5 yrs, potholes stay

As you endure your bone-jarring ride to work, you may find it difficult to believe that the civic body has spent Rs 5,383 crore — well over $1 billion — on Mumbai’s roads over the last five years. And this doesn’t even include money spent on the eastern and western express highways; the Public Works Department manages those.

Compare this with the total cost of the 95-km Mumbai-Pune Expressway — Rs 1,600 crore, a third of the city’s road expenditure over the past five years. The eight-lane, fully concretised road was built in mountainous terrain and is in good condition.

Data collected by Hindustan Times shows the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) spent more than Rs 1,000 crore on an average every year on constructing, maintaining, widening and repairing roads between April 2005 and March 2010.

Of this, Rs 3,480 crore was spent on building or widening roads and Rs 1,900 crore on maintenance. Given that the city has 1,900 km of roads, this works out to Rs 2.80 crore a kilometre.

More than Rs 150 crore was spent only on filling potholes. This year alone, since April, the BMC has pent Rs 60 crore on pothole repairs. Experts said this huge spend wasn’t justified given the poor results — most roads crumble no sooner than the monsoon begins every year.

Last Updated on Tuesday, 21 September 2010 07:55
 

Roads developed at Ponnurunni

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The New Indian Express  20.09.2010

Roads developed at Ponnurunni

KOCHI: Ponnurunni is represented by Deputy Mayor of Kochi , C K Manisanker.  The division is to be reserved for Scheduled Caste women in the coming elections.  A sizable portion of Subash Chandra Bose road passes right through the division.

C K Manisanker has been  representing Ponnurunni for two terms now, and claims he has tackled almost all the problems of the division during this period. He says he has given much attention to solving waterlogging, which was a big problem in the division. “Puthara, Kachapilli Road, Atham Lane, Kolothumpadi, Rail Nagar etc were areas which used to have severe waterlogging troubles. However, I have ensured that the width of the canals in the division, like Poothara Thodu, Nalukanadam Thodu, Ambelipadam Thodu and Bhuvaneswari Thodu are increased.  Protection walls were made and slabs placed on top to make footpaths and byroads. Drains have been built even inside the compounds of houses and flats.” In addition to the petti and para at Chettichira that was installed during the last term, another petti and para were installed near Puthenpalam. The hump pipe at Rail Nagar Road  by building a culvert here. The culverts at J J Road and Ambelipadam Road were both rebuilt. The drain at Subash Chandra Bose Road was replaced with a culvert. All these have solved waterlogging in the division. The Corporation general fund and the division fund were used for the work.

The deputy mayor claims he was instrumental in developing the four metre Convent Road to the 15-metre Subash Chandra Bose Road. Road-sides were raised and footpaths tiled with public co-operation.  According to him a six-inch pipe is being laid in the one km stretch from Ponnurunni railway gate to Kunjan Bava Road, to solve the problem of the potable water-shortage in the area. The 600-metre stretch has been covered and the rest of the work is still being carried out. Once this work is finished, the problem of water-shortage will be over. The work is funded by KSUDP.  The tarring work of Bhauvaneswari Road was also carried out by using KSUDP fund.

He says road-tarring works have been carried out throughout the division using People’s Plan fund and the Corporation general fund. Some of the roads like the Subash Chandra Bose Road, Kunjan Bava Road, Bhuvaneswari Road,  Sahakarana Road and Paradise Road are slated to be re-tarred, soon.  

C K Manisanker says - “Streetlights and sodium vapour lamps have been installed at many important areas.” According to him, other works include the ADS Hall and homoeo dispensary that were built with the UPAD fund, the building of Star Industrial co-operative society using the People’s Plan fund,  the two Anganwadis built using general fund from the Corporation etc. Anganwadis have been given toys and other furniture and accessories.  Renovation work has been carried out at Ponnurunni Govt. LP school. Here, a new open air stage and office were built and furniture given to the school.

The Deputy Mayor says around 160 houses were given through VAMBAY and BSUP schemes.  He has initiated many new developments like Padmasarovaram beautification project which will be carried out in the future. Residents here admit that waterlogging problems have been solved to a large extent through many initiatives, though some of the low-lying areas still suffer during the rain. They complain that roads here are full of potholes now. Potable water shortage still troubles certain areas of the division and needs to be solved.

Last Updated on Monday, 20 September 2010 10:48
 


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