Mumbai: Even as the BMC pushes ahead with its ambitious Rs 12,000-crore plan to turn the city pothole-free, it is already lining up the next phase of road concretisation.Civic sources said the next phase of works is approximately pegged at an additional Rs 2,500 crore, triggering sharp political pushback over timing and execution.Officials said estimates for the new phase are still being worked out, but the expansion comes at a time when parts of the ongoing works are still incomplete. The mega project, initiated under directions from former chief minister and existing deputy CM Eknath Shinde, aims to replace Mumbai’s entire 2,050-km road network of asphalt and paver blocks with durable concrete surfaces. “We have been asked to work on preparing the estimates; however, none of these works will begin so soon as we are still in the process of identifying the roads that need to be concretised,” said a civic official.So far, the project has been rolled out in two phases. Phase I saw 698 roads (324km) being taken up in Jan 2023, while Phase II proposes 1,420 roads spanning 377km. Civic officials maintain all works are on track for completion before next monsoon.On the ground, however, the picture is more complicated. Opposition leaders argue that the rush to expand the project is premature and risks compounding existing coordination failures. Samajwadi Party MLA Rais Shaikh flagged repeated instances of freshly concretised roads being dug up within days. “Inter-departmental clearances are not being properly coordinated. Roads are being concretised and then reopened for other works almost immediately,” he said, pointing to a recent case where a part of St Andrew’s Road outside Bandra Gymkhana in Bandra West was dug up once again, much to the dismay of local residents. This road was recently concretised and a portion was dug up again for upgradation of the Chimbai pumping station, involving micro-tunnelling, and the dug-up section is meant for the construction of a chamber.Over 1,333km of roads have been concretised so far, including major arteries such as Aarey Road, Andheri-Kurla Link Road, Narayan Dabholkar Marg, and stretches connecting Navy Nagar to Shahid Bhagat Singh Marg.The project has also run into controversy over alleged irregularities in upcoming tenders. BJP party executive member Vivekanand Gupta, in a post on X, claimed that a Rs 3,200-crore tender for roads in western suburbs could favour a specific contractor, calling it a “big scam”.
