ECNEC approves wastewater treatment project

Venture is worth Rs19 billion

FAISALABAD: The Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (ECNEC) has approved the wastewater treatment project for the city.

The project with an estimated cost of Rs19 billion for construction of the Eastern Wastewater Treatment Plant was approved by Ecnec in a meeting chaired by the Prime Minister’s Finance and Revenue Adviser Hafeez A Sheikh. The Planning and Development Board chairperson and the Faisalabad Water and Sanitation Agency (Wasa) managing attended the meeting from Punjab.

The plant will have the capacity to treat 44 million gallons of water daily (MGD).

During the meeting, Minister of State for Economic Affairs Hammad Azhar appreciated the projects executed and prepared by Faisalabad Wasa through foreign funding, whose size is larger than the plans for other cities in the country. This shows the confidence of donor agencies in Wasa and public representatives.

Official documents show that the project will help reduce the degrading of the environment and aquifer. The treated water will be reused for agriculture through Gugera Branch Canal. The plant will also co-generate electricity through a wet anaerobic digester.

Wasa has been discharging untreated wastewater into the Ravi and Chenab rivers through Madhuana Drain on the eastern side and Pharang in the west, over which then environment department has issued warnings.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 18^th, 2020.