On Sunday the Imagine Panaji Smart City Development Limited announced that it was deploying road milling technology -- a technology that helps excavate the previous layers of asphalt and bitumen before laying a fresh layer, a move that will help address the issue of maintaining the level of the road against the level of the pavement.
Such a move is long overdue. The IPSCDL said they deployed the technology after multiple stakeholders raised “grievances” of uneven levels of roads vis-a-vis the pavements. In other words, as the roads of the city were surfaced and resurfaced with layers of hot-mix the level of the roads kept rising resulting in several pavements being below the road level, the entrances to shops being blocked by a step up in the tar level that resulted in problems of flooding and an inability to drain flood water from the premises since the road was higher than the floor.
Such problems have been especially prominent in areas of Panaji such as around the Garcia da Orta garden, 18th June Road, Patto, the market area and the like. In truth, this has been a problem that was not restricted to Panaji alone, but rather one that is experienced by towns and cities across Goa. The rising level of the roads has made the roads much higher than the pavement, the shop floors as well as people’s houses that people now have to step up to leave their homes. The deployment of road milling technology, although long overdue, is a welcome step to ease out the hardships of the people.
Road milling technology has been used around the world to help recycle the road-building material -- bitumen and gravel -- that is then reused to resurface the roads after enriching it to make fresh asphalt. This not only helps conserve material but also ensures that the roads do not keep increasing in height.
Former state PWD Minister Nilesh Cabral had indicated that he was keen on bringing the technology to Goa, but wasn’t able to hold on to his post long enough to see his promises through. It is imperative now that the machines -- that have been procured from Bengaluru -- be deployed to all other parts of Goa after their successful deployment across the capital city’s network of roads.
What’s more important, however, is that the departments concerned find a way to recycle the excavated material -- material that can be effectively recycled once it is reheated and tossed with fresh asphalt. Such a move will not only help save material, ensuring sustainability but also reduce the burden on the state exchequer who, until now, was forced to pay the cost of fresh asphalt.
The state should also consider using recycled plastic in the reconstruction of roads -- the technology for which is already available -- rather than sending the waste material to cement plants in Bagalkot in Karnataka where it is burnt in the blast furnaces of the cement factories -- a move that not only costs the state exchequer but also isn’t a very environmentally friendly solution.
