The civic body’s project to convert 295 asphalt roads in the city into cement concrete ones is stuck because of lack of coordination at multiple levels. While top BMC officials are firm on their decision about laying the ducts, executive engineers find the idea impractical.
The BMC approved work on 505 roads in January and traffic permissions were issued for 295 roads. However, work on a very few of the 295 roads has begun. There are around 40 types of utility wire underneath the city roads, like water, sewer, gas, electricity, internet. It is a well-known fact that trenches for laying and repairing these cables damage the structure of roads and lead to potholes. So this time, it was decided to lay cable ducts under the roads.

However, road engineers cited multiple issues, like the small width of roads, shifting existing utility lines and difficulties with laying gas, electricity and water pipelines together. However, as the BMC officials remain firm with their decision to lay the ducts, the work started slowly, but without much planning, and keeping existing lines as it is. The issues of lack of coordination between departments and authorities, narrow roads and apathy have delayed the work.