AHMEDABAD: Between the ‘Vikas gando’ memes of 2017 going bonkers and the spine-rattling roads of Ahmedabad, lies the civic body’s smooth ‘resurfaced’ talk. Despite several assurances to the high court for including new technologies to construct durable roads the civic body has been struggling to keep its promise.
In a budget meeting held in February 2020, a senior AMC official declared that the city requires 411km of new roads to accommodate existing traffic. But instead of constructing new roads, the AMC has spent its money on resurfacing 460km of existing roads in past three years. “We call this the ‘road repair raj’ of the AMC . It’s an unholy nexus of local politicians and contractors. The AMC pays contractors Rs 1,385 per square metre for filling potholes of minimum 75mm depth,” says a senior AMC official who did not wish to be quoted. In 2017, when AMC drew the HC’s ire, some 44.89km of roads were repaired.
AMC spends an average 11.75% of its annual budget expenditure for road, street and footpath, cleaning and resurfacing of roads.
With expansion of city, the expenditure has also increased from Rs 618 crore in 2015-16 to Rs 962.59 crore in 2020-21. Surprisingly, the expenditure for resurfacing the roads has also increased each year.
“In 2015-16 the AMC spent Rs 159.92 crore, which had declined in the subsequent years but the expenditure for resurfacing suddenly jumped to Rs 241.91 crore in just one year which was 2020-21,” says Mahender Jethmalani of the Patehya budget centre, which analyses municipal budget spending.
AMC’s expenditure on resurfacing roads is about 25% of the total expenses on road construction and maintenance. “A large portion of roads in city get washed away during heavy rain,” admits a senior AMC official.
It’s worth recalling that the AMC had assured the HC in 2019 that if contractors are caught for malpractice or found laying poor roads, they will be debarred or blacklisted permanently. Another assurance given was that the AMC will use nanotechnology and organosilane compound (anti-stripping agent) for road construction. But the reality is visible in the amount of bitumen that is going into road repairs this year till February 2021— it’s worth 559 crore!