The Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) has embarked on another experiment to protect you from the usual back-breaking journey on the potholed roads of the city.
A pothole filling machine, launched by Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, demonstrated its capability on Race Course Road on a rainy Saturday evening. The Python 5000 uses a ‘hot process’ to repair the damaged portions of the road. Nearly two years ago, the BBMP had experimented with another pothole filling machine that relied on cold process.
About 1,940 km of arterial and sub-arterial roads are expected to be pothole-free in about two months, at a cost of Rs. 15.5 crore, thanks to the machine. Bangalore has about 13,000 km of roads, of which arterial and sub-arterial roads make up 1,940 km, and bear nearly 70 per cent of the city’s traffic.
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The Canadian machine has been brought by American Road Technology and Solutions Pvt. Ltd., which has won an annual maintenance contract to keep the arterial and sub-arterial stretch pothole-free for a year.
The machine, according to a company official, has the capability to fill potholes along a stretch of 3,000 km a month. A fully automatic machine, it has can fill a pot hole in 4 to 5 minutes and it can make 30 kms stretch of road pot hole free in 8 hours.
“It can be extended to roads maintained by the Public Works Department if it succeeds in Bangalore,” said Mr. Siddaramaiah.
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PWD Minister H.C. Mahadevappa, Transport Minister Ramlinga Reddy, Mayor B.S. Sathyanarayana, company director M.G. Mohan Kumar and its chairman Om Prakash were among those present.