Mumbai: During a marathon review meeting held on Saturday, Union Commerce Minister and Mumbai North MP Piyush Goyal assessed the progress of the ongoing road concretisation projects in Mumbai. Addressing the media after the meeting, Goyal stated, "The BMC has assured that work on 212 roads across four civic wards in North Mumbai will be completed by May 31."
This was Goyal's fourth review meeting with senior officials from the BMC, the Collector’s office, MMRDA, MHADA, SRA, and the police. The meeting was held at the BMC’s R Central ward office in Borivali West, where he took stock of various infrastructure projects and civic issues affecting the city’s northern suburbs.
MLAs From Mumbai North Constituency Raise Concerns
During the meeting, MLAs from the Mumbai North constituency raised concerns about the slow progress of the road work. Expressing concern over the sluggish pace and quality of the ongoing concretisation work, Goyal questioned civic officials, urging them to expedite progress while ensuring high construction standards. With the monsoon season fast approaching, he stressed the importance of completing the current phase of roadwork by the May 31 deadline to prevent further inconvenience to residents and commuters.
According to sources, Goyal also highlighted discrepancies in the height alignment between newly constructed cement roads and adjacent footpaths — an issue that could exacerbate waterlogging problems during the monsoon.
In response, a senior civic official stated that the BMC is leveraging artificial intelligence to monitor the progress and quality of ongoing road works in real-time. To enforce accountability, the BMC has imposed hefty penalties on contractors and ready-mix concrete (RMC) plants after identifying delays and inconsistencies during slump tests conducted as part of quality checks.
The meeting also touched upon the issue of encroachments along the banks of the Dahisar and Poisar rivers in the western suburbs. Officials discussed relocating hutments to newly constructed housing units that are currently lying vacant. So far, 25% of the desilting and widening work on both rivers has been completed.
