3 min readMumbaiFeb 4, 2025 10:23 PM IST
First published on: Feb 4, 2025 at 10:23 PM IST
The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has allocated Rs 3,111 crore for concretising roads in Mumbai in its budget for the 2025-26 financial year.
Two years after work orders were issued for concretising roads, data furnished from the civic budget revealed that the civic authorities have been able to achieve only 26 per cent of the total work till date.
In February 2023, the BMC had issued work orders for concretisation of 324km of road length/ 698 roads in Mumbai at a cost of Rs 6,000 crore. This project was the brainchild of former Chief Minister Eknath Shinde who had proposed completion of this project in two years and making Mumbai ‘pothole-free’.
Meanwhile, the civic body said so far, only 187 roads or 26 per cent of the proposed road length have been concretised so far.
“Even though the work orders were issued in February 2023, the actual work on ground could only begin by October of that year which went on till monsoon arrived in the first half of June. Since civil works couldn’t be taken up during monsoon, the rest of work could only begin after October. As a result, the progress has been slow,” Abhijit Bangar, additional municipal commissioner (Projects) told The Indian Express on Tuesday.
“The contractors who were awarded the work were new in Mumbai and they took time in acquiring permission. These factors also affected the progress of work. However, things have been streamlined now and work is going on at full pace,” Bangar added.
In his budget speech, municipal commissioner and state-appointed administrator Bhushan Gagrani said the civic body aims to achieve 75 per cent of this project by the next financial year.
Meanwhile, in a separate work order issued in December 2024, the BMC initiated concretisation of 377km of road length or 720 different roads in Mumbai. In his budget speech, Gagrani said that in the next financial year, the BMC is set to achieve 50 per cent of this work as well.
“The concretisation work is going on full swing and we have instructed all the contractors to mobilise all their resources to ensure the project deadline is met. We also have received guidance from IIT-Bombay experts to ensure quality and proper standard of work is being maintained,” said Gagrani.
“We have been hearing from sources that some people are facing inconvenience, owing to road concretisation works, even though we haven’t received any formal complaint yet. However, we will consider to mitigate any inconvenience faced by citizens if they are raised formally,” said Gagrani.
In total, for the roads and traffic department, BMC has allocated Rs 5,100 crore for multiple infrastructure projects, an increase of Rs 989 crore from last year. Under this, the civic body has proposed a Mumbai walkability project in which it aims to improve footpaths in the city to increase accessibility. The BMC has also earmarked Rs 200 crore for constructing two multi-level robotic car parking facilities that will come up at Flora Fountain and Worli.
Two years after work orders were issued for concretising roads, data furnished from the civic budget revealed that the civic authorities have been able to achieve only 26 per cent of the total work till date.
(Representational File Image) 
Share
