With the Bombay high court about to announce its verdict on the state of city roads on Thursday, BMC officials are hoping that their long-term plans for restoration of roads will help them avert the court’s wrath.
Following the high court’s directive, the civic body has come up with a `7,000-crore master plan to resurface the city roads. The plan will be submitted to the court on Thursday. A few weeks ago, the high court had taken suo motu action against the BMC and other agencies for the city’s bad roads and inconvenience caused to people by potholes.
Additional municipal commissioner S.V.R. Srinivas said, “In addition to the master plan, we have both long-term and short-term plans for resurfacing of roads in the city. The long-term planning has been keeping in mind to ensure good roads over the next four to five years.”
According to the master plan, cement and asphalt roads will be given priority for restoration in terms of traffic density and their conditions. Design consultants will be appointed and all roads more than 60 feet-wide will be concretised.
As part of long-term planning, the civic body has decided to hire IT-based services to bring competency and transparency in road works.
Keeping in mind the court’s reservations about payment system, payment to contractors will be made in installments and second third-party auditor will be appointed to formulate tender conditions and scrutiny of bids. As contractors do not maintain roads, the BMC is also planning to include a maintenance clause in the tender. It will also explore a new technology called ultra thin white topping (UTWT) for roads with low traffic density and parking lots.