Perennial bumpy rides testing your spine strength? You have not only the recent spell of heavy rain to blame but also the fact that roads have not been re-laid for decades.
Termed ‘Periodic Preventive Maintenance’ (PPM), the work involves milling of the existing BT road, re-profiling and re-laying it. And it is ideally done once in five years. However, all that GHMC has been able to do is mere patchwork, which results in uneven bitumen pads in the middle of the road, eventually leading to bumpy rides.
Recently, however, the GHMC has sought an annual funding of ₹540 crore from the State government for PPM of city roads. Citing Indian Road Congress guidelines, the civic body reportedly mentioned in its request that periodic maintenance will keep roads in good health, but paucity of funds has, so far, prevented it from doing so, said an official requesting anonymity.
The city has over 4,000 km of BT road length, which amounts to 9,000 lane km. Milling and re-carpeting would require approximately ₹30 lakh per lane km. “Re-laying of 20 per cent of road length per year is the norm, so that its turn will come exactly after five years. Thus, the GHMC will need funds to re-carpet 1,800 lane km annually, which amounts to ₹540 crore,” the official added.
For the first two years after re-carpeting, it will be the contractor’s responsibility to take care of the road’s regular maintenance. For the next three years, the maintenance would cost the corporation about 10 per cent of the periodic maintenance cost. However, the same may not apply if the road is eroded due to water stagnation, which is common in the city.
Nevertheless, re-profiling of the road every five years could address the issue of water stagnation.
Positive response
Chief Engineer (Maintenance) Mohd. Ziauddin said the Municipal Administration and Urban Development Minister K. T. Rama Rao took cognisance of the issue and responded positively to funding request.
