BMC to repair, beautify footpaths in western suburbs

According to the plan, the existing paver block footpaths will make way for cement-concrete ones which will lead to ease in walkability.

Mumbai: The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has proposed beautification and repair works of footpaths in three municipal wards in the western suburbs to make them encroachment free and pedestrian-friendly. The BMC has identified eight prominent locations in Andheri (west), Borivali and Dahisar and some parts in the Juhu Versova Link Road, SV Road (Dahisar) and Link Road in Dahisar and Borivali.

Senior civic officials maintained that besides improving the surface of the footpaths, the project will also include the installation of street furniture (Anshuman Poyrekar/HT Photo)

According to the plan, the existing paver block footpaths will make way for cement-concrete ones which will lead to ease in walkability.

Senior civic officials maintained that besides improving the surface of the footpaths, the project will also include the installation of street furniture, creating artificial gardens and replacing the existing road signages with new ones. BMC officials said that murals will also be painted and installed alongside the footpath to provide an aesthetic outlook.

“We will be using cement and concrete which will make the footpath smoother and pedestrian-friendly. Besides this, we will also improvise the existing designs to make sure wheelchair users and specially-abled citizens can find it easier to move and walk,” said a senior official.

Earlier in 2020, the BMC had taken up beautification work of footpaths in some of the heritage precincts areas in South Mumbai, including Colaba and Kala Ghoda. Later in October 2021, the BMC roads department chalked out 33 different locations in South and Central Mumbai for carrying out improvement works on the footpaths. In all of these projects, the BMC had replaced the existing paver blocks with cement and concrete footpaths.

Civic officials said replacing the paver blocks has been a smart move as cement and concrete lead to increased longevity of the quality of the work.

The BMC floated tenders for this project earlier this month and the overall cost has been pegged at ₹9.35 crore. The officials have said that a 12-month-long timeline has been set up for this project.

“These footpaths will be constructed in panels so that if a portion of the footpath gets damaged in future, we can replace that panel with a new one instead of digging the entire footpath, unlike what is one in the case of paver blocks,” the official said.

Officials also said that besides improving the condition of the footpaths, the plan will include building concrete benches, adding new road signages and building new bus shelters. Artificial gardens will be created on the roof of the bus shelters and the existing tree basins in the footpath. The officials said that the installation of the furniture will declutter the footpaths and minimise the chances of encroachment.

“Through this project, we will be able to re-engineer the existing design of the footpaths in a new manner. We will also paint the road signages using bright colours and highlight the parking areas for better accessibility of these spaces,” the officials said.