As part of the ambitious Swachh Sabarmati Action Plan, the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation (AMC) announced on Tuesday that it will increase the capacity of sewage treatment plants along the Sabarmati by more than 66 per cent by the end of 2020.
The capacity of the existing six sewage treatment plants (STPs) along the river stands at 747 million litre per day (MLD). The capacity will be increased by 498 MLD by setting up nine more STPs along the river, municipal commissioner Vijay Nehra said.
"The new sewage treatment plants will be set up at an investment of Rs 547 crores," Nehra said. From 747 MLD at present, the capacity of STPs along Sabarmati river would go up to 1,315 MLD or higher by 66.6 per cent once the new projects go on stream.
Incidentally, five of the new STPs were also announced in the AMC's budget earlier this year. These include the STPs at Jalvihar Vadaj, Vasna, Shankar Bhuvan, Nava Pirana, and Dafnala Shahibaug. "We are dedicated to ensuring a clean Sabarmati, and AMC will make all efforts for the same," Mayor Bijal Patel said.
Of the nine new STPs, the ones at Jalvihar Vadaj and Vasna would be completed by December 2018. Two more projects at Shankar Bhuvan and Nava Pirana would be completed by October and December 2019, respectively.
The STP at Koteshwar and Kotarpur are targeted to be completed by June 2020 and August 2020, respectively, while the remaining three, ie the ones at Dafnala Shahibaug, Hansol and Acher would be completed by December 2020.
In the past, around Rs 100 crore was given to the civic body for the river cleaning by the central government. Talking on the same, Jagdish Patel, the city engineer said, "During the phase one of the project (1998 to 2003) we had come up with some plant. Pirana's 155 MLD STP is part of phase two of the project. Keeping in mind future expansion of the city, we have planned the STP. This will help us to make the river clean and flourish biodiversity."
The civic body is putting extra efforts to make the river clean after Ministry of Environment and Forest announced cleaning of riverfronts in 24 identified polluted stretches in 19 states. Two Riverfronts – Sabarmati and Tapi are part of the cleaning project.
IN VOLUMES
- Capacity of the 6 sewage treatment plants (STPs) along the river stands at 747 million litre per day
- The capacity will be increased by 498 MLD with nine more STPs
- 5 of the new STPs were also announced in the AMC’s budget earlier
