The marathon route from CST to Bandra would be given special attention with workers keeping it neat and clean daily. Besides, the BMC would also be painting direction signboards and marking zebra crossings on the city roads and on the new roads in the suburbs.

The civic body would be spending Rs 4.5 crore for the facelift plan. However, a major portion of these funds would be utilised for the marathon route. “We need to paint the markings twice in the area where the marathon is to be held. So, most of the funds are being used there,” said R A Rajeev, additional municipal commissioner.

The civic administration assured that the beautification work will end before the marathon starts, but the contractors would be paid only after a quality audit of their work is done. They added that they will take more road development work for the suburbs too. “Half of the city roads are well-developed and already have road markings. In the suburbs, the work on the roads is still going on. We aim to bring these roads on par with the city ones,” said Rajeev.

BMC plans theme gardens
The BMC is planning to develop two new theme gardens in Kanjurmarg and Mulund. A proposal in this regard was discussed and passed during the civic body’s standing committee meeting on Friday.

However, the plan was okayed after a long debate and opposition from some corporators. “We were opposing it as we wanted to know details that were missing in the proposal,” said Yogesh Sagar, BJP corporator and standing committee member.

The 19,600 square metres Kanjurmarg garden would have a lot of trees of different varieties and is mainly is planned to attract exotic birds. The proposed garden will cost around 8 crores.