Surat Municipal Corporation to adopt new technique for roads

Bumpy rides on Surat roads might come to an end soon. Surat Municipal Corporation (SMC) plans to adopt the latest German technology to re-carpet city roads. Though SMC spends crores on roads they seem to get damaged.

Micro surfacing technique is said to be a longer lasting and cheaper  technique for maintenance of roads. With expansion of city limits, road network has also increased and so has the responsibility to maintain them. According to an estimate, the civic body spends more than Rs200 crore for carpeting and re-carpeting roads in the city. In spite of this, conditions of the roads fail to improve because of which SMC has been forced to look for other options.

"This new technique will cost Rs351 per sq meter, against the current rate of 450 per sq meter. At present the ACC technique is used which has shorter  life and requires more maintenance," said Jatin Shah, city engineer, SMC. He said the micro surfacing technique involves carpeting the roads with a 6-10 inch thick layer of gerry, emulsion, cement, water and stone dust.

Shah added that roads treated using this technique require less maintenance. The technique has been approved by Indian Road Congress, an apex body which prepares specifications and design of roads in the country.

SMC has decided to test this technique by re-carpeting a patch of 1000 sq meter on one of the busiest roads of the city. If this gives desired result, then this technique will be adopted further. The work will be carried out by Delhi-based company Slurry Tech India.