In preparation for the upcoming monsoon season, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has significantly increased its budget for road maintenance to ₹545 crore, marking a 36% rise from the previous year’s allocation. This substantial fund will be used for various essential tasks, including filling potholes and resurfacing the existing roads across Mumbai.
The decision reflects the BMC’s proactive approach to tackling the perennial issue of road damage during the monsoon. Last year, the civic body spent nearly ₹400 crore on similar activities, managing to fill around 70,000 potholes. This year, ₹275 crore of the total budget is specifically earmarked for pothole repairs. These funds will be distributed among the 24 municipal wards based on their geographical size and road network, with allocations ranging from ₹8 to ₹12 crore per ward. Additionally, each ward office will receive a minimum of ₹1 crore for addressing potholes on minor roads under their jurisdiction.
To delineate responsibilities, roads wider than nine metres will be maintained by the BMC’s central roads department using the ₹275 crore fund. In contrast, local ward offices will handle the upkeep of narrower lanes with their separately allocated funds. This bifurcation aims to ensure efficient management and maintenance of both major roads and minor lanes.
Furthermore, last month, the BMC awarded a ₹146 crore tender for the maintenance and pothole repairs on the Eastern Express Highway (EEH) and Western Express Highway (WEH). These highways, which the BMC took over two years ago, have ₹74 crore and ₹72 crore allocated for their upkeep, respectively. In addition to these efforts, the BMC had also invested ₹100 crore in repairing and resurfacing damaged roads before the onset of the monsoon.
The primary goal of this extensive expenditure is to maintain road conditions during the monsoon, a period when Mumbai experiences heavy rainfall and high vehicular density, leading to significant road surface damage. Given Mumbai’s status as an island city with limited scope for road expansion, the focus remains on improving and maintaining the existing road network.
In a long-term solution to mitigate pothole issues, the BMC has committed to a ₹6,000 crore project to concretise 397 km of roads in Mumbai. Initiated in February 2023, approximately 30% of this project has been completed. Out of Mumbai’s total 2,050 km road network, 990 km have already been concretised, while the remaining 1,060 km, which are asphalt and mastic roads, continue to develop potholes during the rainy season.
Last year, during the peak monsoon months of June to August, the BMC managed to fill 40,000 potholes. However, unseasonal rains in September and October increased this number to 70,000, underscoring the persistent challenge posed by Mumbai’s climatic conditions. With this year’s enhanced budget and strategic planning, the BMC aims to ensure smoother and safer roads for Mumbai’s residents throughout the monsoon.
