Danish company to help construct treatment plant

LAHORE:Danish International Development Assistance (DANIDA) has agreed to provide technical and financial assistance to the Water and Sanitation Agency (Wasa) to construct a Waste Water Treatment plant (WWTP) at an estimated cost of US$ 100 million in the provincial metropolis.

The proposed plant will be constructed at Wasa’s disposal station at Kartar Bund Road in Southern Lahore region. Presently, the DANIDA was in the process of hiring a consultant to carry out the feasibility study of the project while Wasa was preparing the TORs for hiring of consultant in consultation with DANIDA.

Managing Director Wasa Syed Zahid Aziz said out of the estimated cost of the project US $ 100 million around 65 per cent will be a soft term loan while the remaining 35 per cent will be the financial aid.

He said Lahore is the second largest city of Pakistan and it is expanding rapidly. He said construction of wastewater treatment plants in the city was the top most priority of the present government and Wasa was assigned to complete this task. “Currently most of the wastewater generated in Lahore is being discharged into River Ravi through 13 disposal stations and there is no water treatment plant installed at these points,” Wasa MD said and maintained that an estimated 2.45 million cubic meter/day (1,000 cusec) of untreated wastewater containing domestic sewage was being disposed of into River Ravi.

Due to non-existence of Wastewater Treatment Plants (WWTPs) in Lahore, River Ravi was presently acting as a sewage carrying drain and all the seepage from it. Flow of sewage from the River Ravi was also posing a threat to the ground water reservoir of Lahore and its vicinity. This is seriously deteriorating hygienic conditions of the area and was a threat for downstream users of river water.

M/s Balfour identified six locations for construction of wastewater treatment plants for Lahore city and also prepared a feasibility study for construction of wastewater treatment plants at seven different locations.

Wasa MD while talking about the Kartar Bund Road wastewater treatment plant said that objectives of the project was to construct the Wastewater Treatment Plant (WWTP) at Kartar Bund Road to treat and reuse the wastewater by making it available to Punjab Irrigation Department at Lahore Branch Canal near Thokar Niaz Baig for irrigation purposes. He said under this project, Wasa will provide the wastewater treatment facility for the domestic sewage of Lahore city to improve the environment and water quality of River Ravi.

Wasa will treat the raw domestic wastewater so as to meet the National Environmental Quality Standards and reuse the treated water for irrigation purposes by augmenting the flow in Lahore Branch Canal. The proposed treatment plant was for South Lahore, he said adding the Wastewater Treatment Plant will treat the wastewater generated by the Kartar Bund Sewerage system comprising a service area of around 5000 acres.

The estimated capacity of this treatment plant was 244,700 cubic meters/day (S4 MGD/100 cfs). However the exact capacity of the said plant will be determined after technical study. Wasa MD said that the plant would be state-of-the-art as multiple technology options will be used in this project including activated sludge process (ASP), Up-how Anaerobic Sludge Blanket Reactors (UASBs), Biological Trickling Filters Process (BTF), Oxidation Ditches (DOD), Aerated Lagoons (AL), Waste Stabilisation Ponds (WSP) and others, if any. Answering a question about land acquisition for the project, he said land acquisition was in process and Section 4 of Land Acquisition Act, 1894 had already been published for 150 acres of land.

Replying to another question, he said the Standing Committee of Cabinet on Finance and Development has approved Wasa’s request to seek technical assistance from DANIDA and the project will be started very soon.