In an exclusive town hall discussion with The Indian Express, Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation's Additional Municipal Commissioner (Projects) Abhijit Bangar provided crucial updates on Mumbai's massive infrastructure transformation, revealing that the first phase of the city's ambitious road concretisation project is expected to reach 95% completion by May 2026.
Road Concretisation Progress and Challenges
Addressing concerns about project delays, Bangar clarified that the entire road concretisation work was awarded in two phases. Phase 1 encompasses over 300 km of roads, while Phase 2 is projected to achieve 85% progress within the next eight months under favorable conditions.
"In the past one year, we received innumerable complaints from citizens since so many roads were dug up at one go. This time, we have learnt our lesson and chalked out alternative methods," Bangar acknowledged, highlighting improved planning approaches.
The BMC has implemented new strategies including providing alternative access routes during construction and adopting phased digging approaches to minimize public inconvenience.
Quality Assurance and Monitoring Mechanisms
When questioned about quality control, Bangar revealed that less than 1% of concrete roads have developed cracks, demonstrating satisfactory implementation. The corporation has established multiple layers of quality checks, including:
- Quality-monitoring agencies for ongoing work inspection
- IIT Bombay as third-party monitoring and hand-holding consultants
- Accountability measures where monitoring agency representatives are held responsible for quality lapses
"If during an inspection we found that somewhere the quality of the road is not up to the standard, then the first person held accountable is the representative of the agency whose job is to monitor and maintain the standard of work," Bangar emphasized.
Flood Mitigation and Climate Resilience
With Mumbai experiencing increasingly erratic rainfall patterns, Bangar outlined comprehensive flood mitigation strategies being developed in collaboration with IIT and the National Disaster Management Authority.
"We are heading into an era where not just rainfall has become erratic, but the frequency of high-intensity rainfall has also increased," he noted, explaining that the city's extensive concretization reduces water percolation, exacerbating flooding.
The proposed solutions include:
- Bioswale and Sponge Park implementations to increase ground percolation
- Enhanced pumping capacity
- Tidal control gates to prevent seawater backflow during high tides
- The comprehensive plan has been submitted to the Ministry of Home Affairs for funding approval
Walkability and Pedestrian Infrastructure
Addressing Mumbai's long-standing pedestrian accessibility issues, Bangar announced that Rs 100 crore has been allocated in this year's budget as initial funding to transform Mumbai into a pedestrian-friendly city over the next 10-15 years.
"Mumbai has a footpath length of 4,000 km, which is very huge in terms of scale. But we should start somewhere," he stated, outlining plans for constructing footpaths according to Indian Road Congress specifications that prevent two-wheeler encroachment and include tactile paths for visually impaired citizens.
Inter-Departmental Coordination and UMTA
Bangar acknowledged coordination challenges between different civic agencies, citing instances where newly constructed footpaths were dug up for metro work. "In many ways, we still are working in silos unfortunately," he admitted.
To address this, the government is formulating an Urban Municipal Transport Authority (UMTA) for the Mumbai Metropolitan Region. This institutional setup will ensure all transport-related projects, including roads, are coordinated through a single platform where multiple agencies can collaborate and prevent overlapping works.
Transparency in Civic Projects
Regarding the Mithi river desilting controversy, Bangar highlighted technological interventions for ensuring transparency. Artificial Intelligence tools are now being used to track desilting progress and prevent manipulation.
"We established our own AI model and trained it to identify debris. Now, we have deployed the AI tool wherein we run videos through our AI tool, which is easily able to identify the silt quantity," he explained, adding that contractors must upload loading process videos for payment processing.
With BMC elections approaching after three years without elected representatives, Bangar emphasized increased accountability, stating that administrative officers need to be more conscious of their responsibility to the public as democratic systems resume functioning.
