Despite the BMC awarding the contract to concretize 68.25 km of South Mumbai roads for the second time, the long-delayed project remains stalled. On Saturday, former BJP corporator Makarand Narwekar, along with Colaba residents, protested at 1st Pasta Lane, drawing attention to the deteriorating condition of the concrete roads in the area. Narwekar has called for an inquiry into the delay and demanded accountability from senior officials in the roads department for the lack of progress.
Narwekar pointed out that the new contractor, who was awarded the work with a 4% increase above the estimate, has only put up barricades on five roads in Colaba, with no actual work or maintenance taking place. Streets like Dumayne Road, Windy Hall Lane, Nathulal Parekh Marg, and Veer Nariman Roads have become chronic traffic bottlenecks due to these barricades. In his letter to BMC Chief Bhushan Gagrani, Narwekar stated that responsibility for the failure to commence work should be fixed not only on the contractor but also onsenior civic officials.
“Citizens are losing patience with perpetual digging and the poor quality of roads. This is happening even after the termination of the previous contract and the appointment of a new contractor for the road works. The BMC should have been stricter in ensuring the execution of these projects. There has been no action taken against the contractor for failing to execute the CC road works,” said Narwekar. Nearly two years after the road works began in January 2023, no new concrete roads have been completed in South Mumbai, with only 15% of the work finished in the remaining areas.
Despite a year passing since the commencement of the road concretisation project, the BMC has completed only 46 kms of the planned 324 kms in Phase 1. Currently, work is ongoing on 213 roads, while 298 roads are yet to be concretised in this phase. In Phase 2, out of 1,420 roads, 433 roads are under concretisation, with many still pending. The delays in these phases have impacted the BMC’s ambitious goal of creating a pothole-free Mumbai.
