Important civic plans get clearance

It was a busy Wednesday for the civic standing committee.

It was a busy Wednesday for the civic standing committee.

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It cleared significant proposals, including appointing consultants to assess the city’s 34 dilapidated bridges, new cars for the mayor and municipal commissioner and use of geo-tube technology instead of the existing tetrapods on the beaches to avoid soil erosion.

Three years after the state-appointed Standing Technical Advisory Committee’s recommendation, the municipal corporation decided to appoint consultants to observe and assess each bridge in the city. The consultants will then submit reports on the estimated cost of repair and what should be done.

“The consultant will carry out non-destructive test and physical test [on the dilapidated bridges], which will be the bases of their recommendation,” said a civic official, requesting anonymity.

On the geo-tube technology, the official added: “This technology uses a thick synthetic permeable geotextiles with uniquely designed retention properties to reduce the soil erosion. It has been implemented at the INS Hamla in Malad.”

“We want to use this technique as it has given results across the world,” said Standing Committee Chairman Rahul Shewale, who had arranged the presentation along with PWD officials.

On Wednesday, the corporation also cleared the proposal to purchase upgraded versions of the Honda City for Mayor Shraddha Jadhav and Municipal Commissioner Swadheen Kshatriya.

“The existing official vehicles [older version of the Honda City] often required repairs and hence we decided to get new ones for them,” Shewale said.

The proposal said that as the cars have travelled a lot, technical wear and tear caused repeated problems and it was not financially viable to maintain them.