Concrete roads to replace asphalt in Sec V, New Town

Kolkata: Housing Infrastructure Development Corporation (HIDCO) has proposed to construct concrete roads, replacing the traditional asphalt roads in phases.

The proposal comes following massive destruction of important roads in New Town and Sector V due to heavy rains. It causes waterlogging at important locations and the accumulated water destroys the top layer of the roads causing huge potholes and craters. HIDCO spends a huge amount of money to repair the damaged roads.

As construction of concrete roads is a costly affair, it has been proposed to construct the roads in phases. Though the initial cost is more, the maintenance cost will be minimum, hence, in the long run the expenditure will be less. It may be recalled that in rural areas many concrete roads have been constructed.

Senior officials of HIDCO, police, Nabadiganta Industrial Township Authority (NDITA) and Metro railway held a series of meetings from Saturday to start the repair of the roads that have been damaged due to heavy rains.

It has been decided that the roads will be repaired on a war footing. Repairing of the roads from Chingrighata to Technopolis, covering a distance of 8.5 km began, on Monday.

Also, the stretch from Chinar Park to Technopolis, covering a distance on 10.5 km, began simultaneously. The potholes are being repaired by cold bitumen.

The craters will be repaired at night by following the traditional method. The roads cannot be repaired due to heavy traffic and in some areas vehicular movement has been diverted to facilitate repairing work.

Once the dry spell starts, massive repairing will begin, said a senior HIDCO official.

He said because of heavy rains the repairing work has been affected badly. Steps have already been taken to complete the repairing work before the Puja and make these roads silk smooth.

The main reason behind waterlogging at Sector V is the construction of the East-West metro.

The drains have been damaged so it takes longer hours to clear the accumulated water from the roads. HIDCO has set up a control room to monitor the level of water in Bagjola canal.