To address complaints about concretisation, Additional Municipal Commissioner Abhijeet Bangar conducted a surprise visit of ongoing roadwork in the eastern suburbs on Tuesday night. He has also requested the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) to organise specialised workshops for civic engineers, contractors, and quality control representatives to tackle construction challenges.
The BMC is investing Rs. 12,000 crores to concretize nearly 800 kilometers of roads across Mumbai. As part of Phase 1, the BMC is focusing on the concretisation of 324 km of roads, with a target completion date of May 31, 2025. However, the BMC has received complaints regarding cracks appearing on newly concretised roads in various parts of the city.
To address these concerns, Bangar conducted an inspection of the ongoing concrete pavement quality concrete (PQC) work in the Eastern suburbs.He conducted an inspection of the concretisation work on Agarwadi Gaothan Road and Late Sardar Gurbachan Singh Bal Road in the M-East Ward.
The inspection was attended by chief engineer (Roads and Traffic) Girish Nikam, Deputy chief engineer Sanjay Sonawane, along with IIT professors – Prof. Solomon and Prof. Vedgiri, and representatives from the Quality Management Authority (QMA). Bangar also emphasised the importance of strictly implementing concrete groove cutting within 8 to 12 hours. He recommended using mobile apps to monitor key factors such as air humidity, wind direction, and wind speed during the concretisation process.
Furthermore, Bangar suggested improvements in concrete curing methods and provided guidance on how to properly perform brooming on the surface to enhance the quality of the work. During the inspection, the cement concrete cube samples, RMC receipts, and technical reports were thoroughly checked. Various technical tests, including concrete temperature, slump tests, and flexural beam sample casting, were also conducted, said the civic officials.
Last week, Municipal Commissioner Bhushan Gagrani chaired a review meeting in which he instructed civic officials to ensure the completion of all roads in Mumbai currently under concretisation by May 31. The primary objective is to make sure that the roads are fully motorable before the monsoon season begins.
