Ahmedabad’s ambitious project for white-topping of roads has hit a bumpy patch. In Jodhpur ward’s Prerna Tirth Road, the new white-topped road has significantly raised the road level, sparking anger among local traders and residents over the possibility of storm water flowing into shops and societies during monsoons.
Amidst the Jodhpur ward road project debacle, Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation (AMC) has decided to suspend white-topping work orders for 37 roads.
“We have constituted an engineering team which will scrutinize the topography of areas, the existing road’s thickness, position of stormwater lines, and waterlogging susceptibility before taking a call on white-topping,” said a senior AMC official.
This cautious approach comes after the initial promise of 96 white-topped roads, of which eight are underway — six in the eastern part of the city and two in the west.
White topping is a road construction technique where a layer of cement concrete, typically 5 to 20cm thick, is placed over an existing asphalt surface.
In August 2022, AMC had approved a proposal to white-top three roads for Rs 20.39 crore.
These stretches included the road from Gurukul to Tirthnagar Society and Maharaja Agrasen School; from Trikamlal Crossroads to Suhan Crossroads in the North Zone; and the Town Planning (TP) scheme Road from Alok Society to Siddhi Bangla in Isanpur ward. The combined length of these three roads is 5.50km. In all, AMC has passed projects to white-top 43 roads with a cumulative length of 33km.
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