Potholed, trenched roads play spoilsport in Kochi

Kochi Corporation faces backlash for delayed road repairs, causing traffic chaos and accidents, prompting calls for urgent action.

The inordinate delay by Kochi Corporation in repairing roads, including arterial and side roads that had been extensively trenched during the past few months by the Kerala Water Authority (KWA) to lay pipelines under the AMRUT project, has invited widespread flak from the Ernakulam District Residents Associations’ Apex Council (EDRAAC) and others.

Severely potholed and undulated roads have unfortunately become the norm in Kochi, despite the advent of the festive season. This in turn has made commuting a nightmare, worsening traffic snarls and causing accidents – especially when motorists take the wrong side to avoid potholes and trenched parts of roads, said P. Rangadasa Prabhu, president of EDRAAC.

The KWA ought to have done timely temporary restoration works, while the Corporation should have ensured their prompt resurfacing. Their ineptitude has led to motorists, pedestrians and traders having to endure a backbreaking ride and also dust/slush from the damaged roads. Examples abound in the form of the arterial Chittoor Road and the busy K P Vallon Road, which remain damaged, despite High Court orders to ensure prompt repairs. There is an unpardonable delay in restoring these and other roads since there were days together when rains took a break, in October and in November, during which time tarring works could have been done. In this situation, EDRAAC also strongly condemns the ‘ineptitude’ of the District Administration in ensuring inter-departmental cooperation and timely repair of damaged and trenched roads, he said.

The Confederation of Residents’ Welfare Associations (CORWA), a State-level apex body of residents’ associations, had in October sought speedy steps by civic and other agencies to restore all potholed and trenched roads, including in Kochi and West Kochi.

Stating that stakeholders, including a section of engineers, were not taking steps to carry out preventive maintenance of roads, S. Gopakumar, president of Better Kochi Response Group (BKRG) - an NGO, said that there was even now reluctance to repair potholes using cold mix bitumen, that is available in sacks and does not need curing time. “Kochi Corporation must make optimal use of the recently-procured mobile pothole repair machine, for this. As an NGO, we had done multiple demos of the cold mix bitumen resurfacing before Mayors and even a PWD Secretary, in Kochi and Thiruvananthapuram, but to no avail.”

Steps must also be taken to lay geo-textiles atop roads before resurfacing them, to increase their load-bearing capacity and to uniformly distribute the load from tyres. Engineers must adopt technologies that are specific to Kochi which has clayey soil and a high water table. Above all, project management consultants must be vested with the task of supervising road repair works, Mr. Gopakumar added.