157km of roads to be repaired in 2021-22, down from 289km last yr
MUMBAI: While the budgetary allocation for the road department of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has remained almost the same in 2021-22 budget compared to the ongoing fiscal, the BMC has reduced its road improvement and repair targets by almost 45% this year.
The BMC maintains around 2,055km of roads in the city, and every major and minor road is repaired or resurfaced using asphalt or concrete cement from the existing paverblocks. According to estimates presented in the budget on Wednesday, the BMC proposes to improve road network of 157km in the city and suburbs during 2021-22, which is less than the target of 289km set in 2020-21.
In 2018-19, the BMC improved about 134km of road network, compared to 162km in 2019-20.
As of December 2020, 123km of road network has already been repaired or improved. Prominent roads that were repaired are New Prabhadevi Road, Sagbaug Road in Andheri, LIC road in Borivli, Lake Road and Nrityanjali Road in Bhandup, Tribhuvan Road in Grant Road and road no. 25 in Sion.
In 2021-22 while presenting the budget, the BMC proposed 157km of roads should be improved, of which 145km will be using cement and 12km asphalt. These roads include CP Tank Road near Marine Lines, Kallbadevi Road, stretches of Link Road, SV Road in western suburbs, Sion Pumping station road, St Anthony Road, Chembur etc. The roads and traffic department was allocated ₹2,279 crore in the ongoing fiscal of 2020-21, which came down to ₹2,231 crore in 2021-22. With the allocation coming down marginally, the number of roads to be taken for repair and improving also has gone down.
The bridges department has got more attention owing to structural repairs proposed. The allocation was above ₹1,100 crore in 2020-21, compared to ₹2,200 crore in 2021-22.
Rajendra Talkar, chief engineer of road department, said,
“We have ongoing works that were stuck earlier and we are looking to complete them in the coming days. There is nothing like we doing less work, but we are just finishing all pending work, and have also proposed new work also.”
Ravi Raja, Congress Corporator and leader of Opposition said, “The targets set by the BMC are always estimated, and there is a possibility of not meeting it exactly. The BMC should have realistic targets that can be completed.” Nikhil Desai, civic activist from Matunga, said, “We want to make Mumbai international financial hub and smart city, but we don’t give our citizens good roads. The BMC is maintaining around 2,000km of road network, and if they do their work diligently, Mumbai’s roads will last longer. But here our road repair work is done at a snail’s pace, and the quality is also poor.”
P Velrasu, additional municipal commissioner, said, “I do not know about the length going down, but we have increased our capital expenditure on road projects by around ₹250 crore. Our focus will be concretisation of roads.”