Mumbai: Six technologies in 12 years, but craters and bumpy rides continue

Jetpatch concrete hot mix and cold mix These have been among the BMCrsquos six tools to seal potholes on Mumbairsquos roads over the past 12 years but all have failed to give citizens relief from bumpy and risky rides during the monsoon As part of its search to find a solution to the cityrsquos pothole problems the civic body has turned to geopolymer rapid hardening concrete and M600 concrete this timeThe BMC first used the JetPatch machine during 201011 While it bought three machines for Rs 78 lakh each the technology was used for a while and a year later the machines lay unused Today no one at the civic body knows where the machines are ldquoThe machine had a limitation as it could fill a small pothole Also the machine was huge so it could not be operated on internal narrow roadsrdquo said a corporation officialAlso read Mumbai Roads will be potholefree in 2 years says BMCA pothole being sealed with rapid hardening concrete near Dayshankar Chowk on July 22 PicAshish RajeThe machines were supposed to repair potholes within hours where conventional pothole repairs would take 48 hours The BMC spent R68 crore on the repair and maintenance of the machine but despite that engineers were unable to use them due to technical glitches Procured from the US the machines could repair stretches of about 80100 sq m in a day but after that it became difficult to refill it with the repair mix and use it again the same day Also the machine was rendered useless for potholes smaller than 2times2 feet and on wet roads The BMC was reportedly in talks with the manufacturers for modificationsMixture from Austria IsraelIn 201516 the civic body used an Austrian and Israeli mixture for instant repairs ldquoBut the experiment did not last long as the material was 10 times costlier than the traditional cold mix and also there was no good resultrdquo said the officialThe poor condition of city roads had prompted the HC to take up a suo motu public interest litigation after which the HC directed the BMC to consult experts from the IIT and the Central Road Research Institute to ensure betterquality material is used to repair potholes The BMC then purchased material from Eco Green Infrastructure Development in Austria and Smart Age Products in Israel for Rs 70 lakhA JetPatch machine being used File picHot and cold mixldquoThe BMC uses hot mix and cold mix However only cold mix is used regularly We are using hot mix if there is a long dry spellrdquo said Ulhas Mahale deputy municipal commissionerIn hot mix a mixture of asphalt and gravel is used for road repair at temperatures above 300 degrees Celsius The BMC had its own hot mix plant at Worli which originally produced around 11000 tonnes of hot mix to fill potholes every year Most of this filling is produced and used in the monsoon season However the civic body found that the hot mix failed to fix potholes in the rainy season So they had to fix the same pothole five to six times in a row The plant later drastically limited the production of hot mix after finding other optionsCold mix in comparison with hot mix required only 10 per cent compression and it easily settled in watery areas Hardly 10 per cent of the manufactured cold mix was used to solve the issue The first few years were good but rain and heavy traffic washed away these dreams tooThe new trioSource said Additional Municipal Commissioner P Velrasu has directed officials to explore new technologies ldquoWe recently tried geopolymer rapid hardening concrete and M600 concrete to repair 3 potholes on Wadala Anik road This is a heavy traffic road We will examine these materials for 2 months Then we will decide whether to use this method or not for next yearrdquo said Mahale Geopolymer mix is a combination of sand stone and polymer After using this a road can be opened to traffic within two hoursRapid hardening was recently tried below a road on the eastern freeway But the patch needed to be barricaded for six hours afterwards before the road was reopened to the publicM60 concrete fixes the pothole but the road needs to be kept shut for six days BMC officials will need to put a steel plate to cover the area and keep the traffic moving as the M60 settles down and dries upThe other idea is to simply fill it up with paver blocks and level up the road Civic official said they put paver blocks as a temporary solution on some stretches during heavy rainlsquoFocus on quality firstrsquoldquoThis is the story of Mumbai roads every year The BMC doesnrsquot follow Indian Road Congress guidelines for repairing roadsrdquo said activist Godfrey Pimenta ldquoThe reason given is that there are potholes on the roads because it rains a lot in the city But even though it rains a lot in Vietnam there are no potholes on the roadsrdquo Pimenta said ldquoIf road repairs are done properly there will be no problem with potholes But BMC doesnrsquot want to look at the root cause of potholesrdquoActivist Nikhil Desai was equally unsparing in his criticism ldquoIt is a gimmick every year to find a new technology to repair the potholes The quality of the road should be maintained while it is being made After the road is made trenches are dug on it after a few months which harm the quality of the roads BMC should plan properlyrdquo he saidCitizen activist Sanjay Gurav said ldquoThen what happens in Mumbai The roads in some parts of Mumbai are of good quality Then why are there not such roads in the entire cityrdquoD D Naik former BMC Road Department engineer said ldquoExcavation is rampant on asphalt roads It damages the road surface as well as the foundation and the quality of the roads deteriorates BMC should work on a duct policyrdquo12000No of potholes in city between April and July 15