Repairing each km of concrete roads will cost you `11.50 cr

The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) will spend Rs 11.50 crore to repair each kilometre of concrete roads in the city.

The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) will spend Rs 11.50 crore to repair each kilometre of concrete roads in the city.

HT Image

Likewise, for each kilometre of asphalt roads, it will spend Rs 4.75 crore. Contracts adding up to Rs 550 crore will be given out soon to rebuild 72 km of roads. The work will start from the first week of October.

Of the 72 km to be rebuilt, 30km will be made of cement concrete (CC), at a cost of Rs 200 crore. The remaining 42 km will be remade with asphalt, at a cost of Rs 349 crore.

This works out to approximately Rs 11,000 per square metre for CC and Rs 4,000 per square metre for asphalt roads. In comparison, state government agencies like Mumbai Metropolitan Region Develop-ment Authority (MMRDA) spend, on an average, Rs 4,500 per square metre for CC and Rs 1,500 per square metre for asphalt roads.

Questions are now being asked whether Mumbai's citizens are paying too much for roads that become pockmarked after just a few showers every monsoon.

Since July 20, HT has been publishing reports on the pathetic state of Mumbai's roads and the need for better construction and maintenance of roads.