Municipal engineers must remain highly vigilant to ensure the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation's (BMC) road cement concreting project meets the highest quality standards and avoids technical flaws, experts said. "Engineers must stay updated with training on concrete road layouts, technology, quality testing, weather, causes of cracks, and available solutions," said Prof. K.V. Krishnarao of IIT Mumbai’s Civil Engineering Department during a recent workshop at IIT Mumbai. Experts at the workshop unanimously agreed that more effective planning is essential for quality control in cement concreting projects. The workshop focused on maintaining utmost quality, addressing challenges, and finding solutions related to BMC’s cement concrete road works.
Attendees included IIT Mumbai Director Prof. Shirish Kedare, Civil Engineering Department faculty Prof. K.V. Krishnarao, Prof. P. Vedagiri, and Prof. Deepankar Chaudhuri, Deputy Commissioner (Infrastructure) Ulhas Mahale, Chief Engineer (Roads and Traffic) Manish Kumar Patel, and other officials and engineers responsible for road works. More than 155 municipal and consultancy firm engineers participated.Municipal engineers discussed the challenges faced while executing cement concrete road works in Mumbai. They highlighted issues such as the distance between cement concrete and gravel transport vehicles, Ready Mix Concrete (RMC) plants, Mumbai’s traffic congestion, and weather conditions, which affect the water content in the cement gravel mixture.
Engineers also pointed out difficulties in obtaining permissions from traffic police for road works and managing the city's network of manholes. Prof. Krishnarao presented criteria and information on technology for laying out cement concrete roads, emphasizing the need for appropriate technology considering Mumbai’s temperature and traffic conditions. He advocated using the latest soil testing data for the city.Prof. Solomon Debarna of IIT Mumbai discussed the causes and solutions for cracks in cement concrete roads. He detailed the types of cracks observed and the appropriate technologies to address them. Additionally, Prof. Krishnarao highlighted the need for BMC to focus on repairing and maintaining road cracks using alternatives like polymer concrete and forming special teams for this purpose.