No need to white-top perfectly good M G Road

Concrete roads are 10 times as expensive as asphalt ones

Bengaluru’s M G Road has for decades remained one of the best maintained roads, but the BBMP now wants to dig up the 2.2 km stretch and relay it with concrete, using a process referred to as white-topping. This is estimated to cost a whopping Rs 45 crore. The stretch to be white-topped is between Trinity Circle and the Mahatma Gandhi statue near the cricket stadium. Investing such a huge amount on a road that is already perfectly good, when there are several roads screaming for attention, is nothing but criminal. Bengaluru has become notorious for its potholes, which have claimed many lives over the years. The BBMP relaid several roads on the eve of the May 2023 Assembly elections. Yet, several roads, particularly those on the outskirts of the city now under the BBMP, are in urgent need of repairs. 

Bengaluru has two kinds of roads, besides the conventional ones. The ones in the Tender SURE category are built according to specific guidelines, with an emphasis not just on the surface but also on the underground utilities and the rights of pedestrians. However, what has caught the fancy of politicians and civic officials is white-topping, which involves building roads with cement. White-topping is exorbitantly expensive, at over 10 times the cost of asphalting. But politicians irrespective of the party in power have justified the cost, claiming that white-topped roads have a life span of 25 to 40 years. Interestingly, a committee set up by the then Yediyurappa government to look into irregularities did not find any evidence of misappropriation of funds. But it highlighted unscientific selection of roads, shoddy work, and poor detailing in project reports. This being the case, one wonders if these roads will last up to 40 years, as claimed by the government.

Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar, who is also in charge of Bengaluru affairs, informed the legislative council recently that the government had set aside Rs 1,000 crore for white-topping. He said white-topping had become all the more necessary because of the ever increasing vehicular traffic in the city. White-topping is not a panacea for the city’s mobility problems. Some of the best roads in the world are asphalted and not built with concrete. The obsession with white-topping should end and the government should instead concentrate on fixing roads that really need attention. M G Road has for long been pampered and is already in pretty good shape. At the most, it may need some cosmetic touches. The government and the BBMP should get their priorities right and leave M G Road alone.