BMC issues ₹140-crore tender to fill pothole with new tech

Mumbai: The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) on Thursday issued tenders worth more than ₹140 crore to fill potholes with ‘reactive asphalt’ and ‘rapid hardening concrete’ technologies in the city and the suburbs. The civic body aims to make the city pothole-free during the monsoon season.

In ‘reactive asphalt’ technology, potholes can be filled in heavy rains, while in ‘rapid hardening concrete’ technology, the road takes only six hours to work at full capacity.

Speaking to the Hindustan Times, additional municipal commissioner (projects) P Velarasu said, “We had a pilot project using ‘rapid hardening concrete’ last monsoon and some of the potholes filled with this technology are still in good condition. It takes less than six hours for the ‘rapid hardening concrete’ to settle and one does not have to isolate the road as well.”

“While ‘reactive asphalt’ technology was earlier used for a trial run and can be used even in rains,” he added.

This year, the civic body has got the maintenance of the eastern express highway and western express highway.

With the civic elections due, this development is being seen as an effort by the Shiv Sena led by chief minister Eknath Shinde to dethrone Shiv Sena (UBT) from BMC after 25 years. Bad roads in the city have been a cause of worry for most Mumbaikars and an election issue in most BMC elections.

The Shiv Sena has come in for criticism in the last few years for bad roads.