The asphalt used to build roads withers away as soon as heavy rains pelt the city, resulting in big holes on the road. Soon enough, water fills in the cracks, resulting in dirty roads, slow traffic and a dangerous situation, overall.
Come monsoons and everyone on the streets of Mumbai will face the same problem—dodging hundreds of potholes on roads across the city. The asphalt used to build roads withers away as soon as heavy rains pelt the city, resulting in big holes on the road. Soon enough, water fills in the cracks, resulting in dirty roads, slow traffic and a dangerous situation, overall.
As you can imagine, these potholes cannot be easily repaired in monsoons using the same hot asphalt used while constructing roads. Instead, fixing potholes during the rainy season requires a ‘cold mix’. Till recently, the BMC would import this mix from two companies in Austria and Israel. However, the civic body has now decided to make the mix in its Worli plant.
This change is expected to bring down the costs by a considerable margin. While BMC imported the cold mix from Austria and Israel at Rs 170 per kg, mixing it here will bring it down to Rs 28 per kg!
Vinod Chithore, the Chief Engineer in the Roads and Traffic Department of BMC, told the Indian Express, “We tested the cold mix manufactured at the BMC plant, and it worked out well. Hence, we have decided to use the cold mix instead of procuring it from foreign countries.”
According to The Hindu, BMC will import the raw materials from a German company. They have modernized their Worli plant to enable it to produce the mix.
#BMC testing out the new #pothole cold mix at #Fort #DN road on Wednesday #monsoons #Mumbai pic.twitter.com/Y25GyXzKI2
— Richa Pinto (@richapintoTOI) May 30, 2018
An official from the Roads Department told the publication, “The department tested the mixture on DN road (Dadabhai Naoroji road) recently, in which potholes were filled with water, and the mixture was poured in. The road was levelled and opened to traffic. The contractor has given us a one-year guarantee. If the mixture isn’t durable, it will be replaced.”
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Mumbai usually requires about 11,000 tonnes of cold mix to fix roads in the rainy season. However, the civic body is targeting a production of about 25,000 tonnes of the mix this year.
(Edited by Gayatri Mishra)
Featured image courtesy: Richa Pinto.
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