The municipal corporation is ready to try out nine new techniques to rid the city of the pothole menace, but the roads department is yet to zero in on locations where the technologies would be tested.
Potholes, potholes everywhere, but which ones should we fix?
The municipal corporation is ready to try out nine new techniques to rid the city of the pothole menace, but the roads department is yet to zero in on locations where the technologies would be tested.
“We are in talks with the officials from both the ward level and central agency. We will soon finalise the locations where the trials of the new pothole-fixing techniques will be done,” said Aseem Gupta, additional municipal commissioner.
The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) had to finalise the locations by August 12 and start trials of the technologies by Sunday. But, now the patented technologies will be tested later this month. The BMC has allocated Rs95 lakh to test these new technologies.
“All the trials will be completed by September 1. Each company will be allotted 150-100m of both asphalt and cement concrete roads to prove the efficiency of their technology. The technique that yields results over a span of four-five wet spells will be included in the BMC schedule,” said Satish Badve, chief engineer.
On August 9, the civic administration convened a review meeting on using new technologies to rid of the pothole menace. Nine firms made presentations advocating their respective techniques. Subsequently, the BMC decided to test road bond, wonder patch, carbon core, eco patch, jet patcher machine, kingjet patching machine, shalpatch, power grout and patchmaker patented techniques.
But there is a hitch. The monsoon ends around mid-September. “The tests should be conducted during monsoon. If carried out after the rains, the efficacy of these techniques will not be precise,” said a senior civic official on condition of anonymity.
“The taxpayer’s money is at stake. It should not be that difficult to select locations. To test the technologies with precision, the BMC should give various kinds of roads such as asphalt, concrete, reclaimed land and bridges to the firm,” suggested Balchandra Shirsat, improvements committee chairman.
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