No more digging, concretisation drive to end on May 31: BMC | Mumbai news

MUMBAI: No more digging – Mumbai’s civic body made a promise on Wednesday that citizens will hold it to. The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) announced that no fresh roads will be excavated for concretisation, and that the concreting of all roads currently excavated will be completed by May 31.

The announcement came after a review meeting on ongoing infrastructure projects on Tuesday, where municipal commissioner Bhushan Gagrani told chief minister Devendra Fadnavis that instructions have been issued to the civic roads department to focus solely on roads that have already been dug up.

While Mumbaiites are pleased with brand new concrete roads being laid, they are utterly frustrated with the execution of the concretisation drive. Often progressing at snail’s pace, the drive has left an abundance of streets excavated for extended periods. This has caused grave inconvenience to citizens and motorists all across the city, not to mention the dust pollution and consequent health hazard it has posed.

Mumbai or Mohenjodaro, citizens ask in despair, inspiring a viral meme that captures every Mumbaiite’s angst: “Notice to all Mumbaikars: Jab tak ‘Mumbai’ ke neeche se, hum ek aur ‘Mohenjodaro’ nahi dhoond nikalte, tab tak khudai nahi rukegi… Yours truly, BMC.”

In some instances, citizens’ groups have got the BMC to cancel the concretisation of specific streets, asking why roads in excellent condition are being concreted.

In an ironic twist – or perhaps a telling coincidence – just before his meeting with Fadnavis, Gagrani was informed that a road in a Mumbai suburb had been excavated without the ward office’s knowledge.

After Gagrani’s meeting with Fadnavis, a circular was issued by Ulhas Mahale, deputy municipal commissioner (infrastructure), on Tuesday evening, setting the May 31 deadline for the concretisation of all roads to be completed. It underlined that no fresh roads would be taken up.

The decision to concretise Mumbai’s roads was taken by former chief minister Eknath Shinde in 2023, to rid the city’s streets of potholes. Of a total road network of 2,050km, approximately 1,000 km has already been concretised.

The BMC has since issued work orders for a total 701km of road length (2,118 roads), including 324 km (698 roads) in the first phase and 377km (1,420 roads) in the second phase. A total of 503 roads are being concretised in the island city alone.

Explaining the rationale behind the circular, Abhijit Bangar, additional municipal commissioner (projects), said that if a 1km road is dug up now, and a fresh road with a 40-50 metre bay is constructed, it would take a long time to concretise each bay, making it challenging for the BMC to meet the May 31 deadline. “Completing one bay without utilities takes 45 days, and with utilities underground, it takes 75 days. What is not acceptable is roads being dug up after June 1,” he added.

Incidentally, the BMC issued tenders worth ₹6,080 crore for 397km of road concretisation and awarded contracts to five firms in January 2023, making it the largest contract awarded to date.

Also, due to delays by a contractor in South Mumbai, the BMC cancelled a ₹1,600-crore contract with Roadway Solutions India Infrastructure Ltd (RSIIL) for 97km of road concretisation in the island city in January 2024, further delaying the works in the island city by nearly two years. The project has since been reassigned to NCC Ltd.

On Tuesday night, Bangar conducted a surprise night inspection. He visited a few roads at Purshottam Thakurdas Marg near Hutatma Chowk and Sapre Marg in South Mumbai. K V Krishna Rao, deputy director and senior professor of IIT-Bombay, participated in the inspection tour and offered suggestions on technical matters.

For instance, Rao provided guidance on when and how the cement mixture brought from a single vehicle is poured in two to three stages at different places. Bangar said, “This is to ensure that the quality of the concrete is maintained, and the time taken to unload the cement mixer is crucial for ensuring that the roads are of good quality.”

Experts from IIT-Bombay were roped in after the BMC received complaints of cracks developing on a few newly concretised roads in the western suburbs.