BMC to start producing cold mix to fill potholes

Mumbai: Taking a lesson from last monsoon’s woes, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has decided to start production of the cold-mix material early for the pothole filling works during next year’s monsoon. Instead of just before the monsoon, the manufacturing of cold-mix is likely to start from January next year.

According to civic officials, there was a shortage of cold-mix material during the last monsoon, due to which pothole repair works were delayed and the civic body faced a lot of flak from all quarters. In order to ensure sufficient stock, the cold-mix material will be manufactured in adequate quantity well before the next monsoon.

“We are planning to undertake production of cold-mix material from January, itself. Last year, we had faced some problems due to the late production of cold-mix material. However, by starting the production early, we plan to keep the material ready by April only,” said a senior official from the roads department. We are working out a plan on how much quantity of cold-mix material is needed by assessing the condition of roads in the city,” he said.

Last monsoon, the BMC decided to repair potholes with a cold-mix material, which was manufactured in its own plant in Worli, in collaboration with a German firm. In an attempt to reduce the cost of importing the mix, the BMC decided to buy the ingredients required from the German firm and use its own raw materials and manufacture the mix at its Worli plant.

Earlier, the BMC used to import the cold-mix from Austria and Israel. But the cost of importing was high and storage during the monsoon was a problem. In 2017, the BMC imported 38 tonnes of cold mix material.