French firm to design wastewater plant plan

Wasa has signed an agreement with a French consultancy firm to finalise the plan within 10 months.

LAHORE: The Water and Sanitation Agency (Wasa) has signed an agreement with a French consultancy firm to finalise within 10 months a plan for the construction of the first wastewater treatment plant in the province.

Under the deal signed on August 12, Egis-Bceom will conduct a feasibility study, field survey and environmental impact assessment; review preliminary designs and technology options; and create guidelines for the selection of the company that will construct the plant at Mehmood Booti.

Shahzad Majeed Chaudhry, Wasa project director, told The Express Tribune that the plant would cost 100 million euros (around Rs11 billion) and take three years to build, once the plan is final. The French government will pay 70 million euros and the rest will come from the federal government, he said. Wasa has acquired 600 kanals in Mehmood Booti for the plant.

The Mehmood Booti plant, which would have a capacity of 250 to 300 cusecs, is a pilot project and Wasa has proposed five other treatment plants at Shadbagh, Babu Sabu, Nishter Colony, Mohlanwal and Farrukhabad, Chaudhary said. The six wastewater treatment plants are expected to cost around Rs60 billion and have a total capacity of 1,437 cusecs.

Wasa Managing Director Javed Iqbal said the Punjab government had told the agency to hire international consultants to finalise the project.

Cost and capacity

Iqtidar Shah, deputy managing director for operations, said the Japanese International Cooperation Agency, the body that manages aid from the Japanese government, would fund the construction of the plant at Farrukhabad. Around 7,200 kanals have been acquired for the plant, which will have a capacity of 300 to 350 cusecs.

The Planning and Development (P&D) Department has approved a PC-1 (project digest) for the plant at Babu Sabu, expected to cost Rs83 million. Wasa has acquired 7,300 kanals for the Babu Sabu plant, which will be able to treat 462 cusecs of sewage.

Wasa has also acquired 200 kanals at Hadiara drain near Ferozepur Road for the Nishter Colony plant, which is projected to have a capacity of 207 cusecs.

The agency is trying to get 1,500 kanals for a 270-cusec plant at Shadbagh, and 1,000 kanals for a 100-cusec plant at Mohlanwal.

A study conducted by British consultants between 1987 and 1995 identified the six sites for the treatment plants, said Wasa (Planning and Evaluation) Director Zahid Aziz.

He said that wastewater treatment plants were essential as most of the city’s untreated domestic wastewater was entering the surface drainage network and altering the water chemistry, reducing biodiversity and affecting human health.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 20^th, 2010.