Dedicated underground utility corridors to be set up.

For the first time, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has proposed to design and build new roads above 60 feet with dedicated underground utility corridors to prevent frequent trenching. The civic body has set aside ₹137 crore for constructing the corridors and shifting utilities. Tenders have been invited for the project.

Over the years, the BMC has failed to maintain flawless roads and engineers have blamed large-scale trenching for the poor quality of roads. They claim that trenching leads to water seepage and surfacing of potholes. Former municipal commissioner Ajoy Mehta had even created a trenching policy, which stipulated that agencies should undertake trenching work at the same time to avoid inconvenience to commuters. There are 17 types of utilities in Mumbai.

A senior civic officer from the roads department said, “Sometimes even private agencies cannot help it when there is an emergency. That is when we realised that shifting the utilities to a single underground corridor could be a good option. In that case, whenever they need to be repaired, the entire road will not have to be dug up. The utility will be accessed through this corridor.”

In some western countries, all utilities run inside these ducts which have entries at regular intervals. However, these ducts have sophisticated mechanisms such as CCTV networks, ventilators and fire safety measures.

The five roads, covering 8.7 km, selected for this project are 90 feet road at Ashok Kedare Chowk in Bhandup (West), Aarey Road on the Western Express Highway to Marol toll naka and Filter Pada toll naka, DP Road from Goregaon check point to Hindu cemetery, Cama Estate Road and MG Road extension.

The BMC officer said, “The idea is that once a road is built, there should be no need to dig it up unless the road itself is being repaired. However, designing the ducts will be the biggest challenge since they will have to accommodate the needs of every department. For example, the lines of piped natural gas and electricity cannot be next to each other. They have to be at separate levels. Also, the water department will face an issue as the water mains will have to be carefully placed. If a pipeline bursts, it can flood the duct.” Shifting the utilities to the new corridors will be the next challenge for the BMC.

THE HINDU