Mumbai: BMC Steps Up Quality Checks With Core Testing On Cement Concrete Roads

Mumbai: To ensure that good quality cement concrete (CC) roads are being constructed in the city, the BMC will now conduct a core test on every under-construction route.

The first such test was carried out on two roads in Andheri and Vile Parel in the western suburbs.

“Several measures have been taken for quality assurance and quality control of roads that will be concretised. In the same regard, a core test was conducted on Manjrekar Wadi Marg in Andheri East and Dikshit Marg in Vile Parle on Monday,” said an official from the road department.

About The Core Testing Process

During core testing, a portion of CC road will be cut in a circular shape and sent to the laboratory at Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay (IIT-B) for testing the strength of the concrete portion. The materials used for concrete roads are analysed on various criteria such as ratio, durability, load bearing, etc. The main objective of the test is to check the strength of the CC road.

Additional Municipal Commissioner (Projects) Abhijit Bangar said, “The road department is ensuring that CC roads are not only constructed, but their quality also remains the best.”

This will also have an obligation on the contractors to maintain the quality. It will also send a message to them that substandard work will not be tolerated, he added.

The civic body has undertaken a mega project of road concretisation to rid Mumbai of potholes. In phase one, 324 km of roads are set to be concreted, while the work on 312 km of roads will be during phase two. To improve the quality of concrete roads, the civic authorities arranged a brainstorming session for their engineers at a workshop conducted by the IIT-B in April and May