MUMBAI, May 31 -- "Miles to go." is how the civic administration should be signing off on its ambitious road concretisation initiative as it fails to meet its May 31 deadline on Saturday. Despite the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC)'s tall claims, several stretches of the city's roads remain incomplete. According to the BMC's data, only just over half - 54.68% - of roads in Phase 2 have been completed, while 82.23% of roads taken up in Phase 1 have been concretised. This works out to 811 roads in Phase 2 and 574 roads in Phase 1 that have been wrapped up. Work on the rest will resume, or start, after the monsoon. But the real measure of progress remains unclear as the BMC is yet to release data on the length of roads concreted - the real barometer of how much of the target has been achieved. Launched in two phases in January 2023, the project aimed to concrete 324km (698 roads) in Phase 1 and 377km (1,420 roads) in Phase 2 - a total of 701km across 2,118 streets. But in February this year, the civic body reassessed its strategy. "We realised by February that the extensive digging was causing tremendous inconvenience to citizens," said Abhijit Bangar, additional municipal commissioner (projects). "So, by March, we decided to halt new road excavations. Public convenience took precedence over completing our target." Citizens were not convinced. Long delays in work already underway had already tested residents' patience, and the contractors' lackadaisical approach left citizens dismayed. Nevertheless, claiming they were putting citizens first, the BMC issued a circular on February 28, formally banning further road digging. They said they were responding to growing complaints about traffic congestion, air pollution and safety hazards. The ban has, however, disrupted the original schedule and delayed the completion timeline. Simply put, it has dragged out the work, forcing citizens to deal with these disruptions for an extended period. All across the city, roads remain dug up and mounds of concrete debris have been left unattended, forcing pedestrians and motorists to navigate a dangerous obstacle course. The impending monsoon has added an element of danger. Despite this, the BMC is yet to announce a revised completion timeline for unfinished road works - a silence that further erodes public trust in its infrastructure initiatives....