Mumbai: Despite its ongoing efforts to make Mumbai pothole-free through extensive road concretisation, BMC is set to spend Rs 79 crore this year on pothole repairs. However, civic officials say that the increased use of concrete roads has helped reduce both the number of potholes and repair costs. Last year, the BMC spent about Rs 220 crore on fixing potholes. This year, the cost has dropped by 60%, showing the benefits of road concretisation, claims the official.
Under the ambitious ‘Pothole-Free Mumbai’ initiative, the BMC has concretised 1,333 km of roads across the city so far. With the monsoon approaching, the BMC has set a target to complete an additional 400 km of road concretisation by May 31.
In Phase 1, Out of 700 roads taken up, 260 roads have been fully completed, while in Phase 2, work has commenced on 1,421 roads, with 56 roads already completed. Other roads scheduled for concretisation after the monsoon will be maintained using temporary fixes—such as geopolymer filling, quick-setting concrete, micro-surfacing, and mastic—to keep them pothole-free.
The BMC will soon invite tenders worth Rs. 79 crores for filling pothole on city and suburban roads during the upcoming monsoon. A senior civic official noted, “Over the past six years, the number of potholes has dropped from 92,000 to 32,000. The cost of road repairs has also gone down, which shows that road concretisation has played a major role in reducing potholes across the city.”
In its recent visit to inspect ongoing road work, the Deputy chief minister Eknath Shinde assured that once concretised, Mumbai’s roads will remain pothole-free for the next 25 years.
Meanwhile, the BMC recently fined two road contractors Rs 20 lakh each and cancelled the registration of two RMC plants for lapses in Mumbai's cement concretisation drive. The plants are also barred from supplying concrete for six months.
As per BMC's data....
Year....potholes....amount spent on repairs...
2019....92,818...Rs 156 crores
2020....65,617...Rs 286 crores
2021....43,478....Rs 169 crores
2022....38,310....Rs 190 crores
2023....59,533....Rs 273 crores
2024....32,000....Rs 220 crores
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