Pothole filling machines to speed up repairs in Hyderabad

Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) is hiring five pothole filling machines, which will facilitate speedy filling up of potholes and ensure comfortable stretches for road users, especially during the rainy season.

Since July 1, as many as 5,091 potholes were formed on different stretches in the city and of these the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) till Thursday has filled 4,364 potholes.

Pothole filling has been a perennial problem for the municipal corporation. In the present manual practice, workers carry the bitumen hotmix from Chudi Bazar in Old City plant and use it in different areas. By the time the material reaches the spot, the hotmix gets cold, affecting the quality of works.

Though the workers use emulsion in the hotmix to ensure surface strengthening, workers have to carry the material to the spots for repair works. More importantly, there is a five-step process like sectioning, cleaning, Tac coat, laying of material and



compaction that has to be followed while filling potholes, explained a senior official.

But in an effort to complete the works early to ensure traffic flow and at times poor monitoring, a step or two are skipped by the workers, which eventually affects the quality, he said.

To fix all these issues, the municipal corporation is hiring five pothole filling machines, including two smaller ones for interior roads and narrow roads. These machines are equipped with bitumen and metal chambers and the task of mixing the material is done at the spot and filled up instantly. The machines follow the prescribed process of pothole filling and complete the works early compared to the manual process, he informed.

The agencies will have to source materials and will be paid on the basis of work completed. Tenders are being floated in a few days and whichever quotes lesser hiring charges will bag the three years contract, he added.