Rs 38-cr plan to resurface Marine Drive stretch

Additional Municipal Commissioner Aseem Gupta said the road has outlived its life and is in urgent need of resurfacing. “Concretisation was done over 40 years ago and the number of cracks along concrete slabs have increased. We have been carrying out routine repair works on the road. Keeping in mind how busy and important this road is,it will not be possible to relay the entire road in concrete. Instead,we will resurface it phase-wise. From NCPA to Princess Flyover and from Princess Flyover up to the foot of Walkeshwar,” he said.

The fund provision for the project will be made in the budget allocations for the next financial year of 2012-13.

The civic body aims at completing the project before monsoons next year. This allocation is being made over and above the Rs 1,000 crore at which BMC is currently constructing 161 major and 600 minor roads in the city.

STAC chairman N V Merani said committee members will inspect the road on Monday and a final decision on how to relay/resurface the road will be taken. “The thickness of this road is just six inches,which is unthinkable in our times. Today,the minimum thickness of any road is about 12 inches,” he said.

An official from the BMC’s road department said they are most likely to resurface the road with a layer of mastic asphalt,which is a much denser and better quality of asphalt with high levels of bitumen,making it nearly as good as concrete roads.