Hyderabad: Laying a major thrust on drinking water and sewerage infrastructure in Hyderabad Urban Agglomeration (HUA) limits, the state government on Thursday approved two mega projects worth over Rs 5,000 crore through two separate government orders. Once completed, Hyderabad will become the only city in the country to receive 100% sewage treatment.
“This is good news for Hyderabadis. Never in the history of Hyderabad Metropolitan Water Supply and Sewerage Board (HMWSSB) has administrative sanction of more than Rs 5,000 crore been given in a single day,” Municipal Administration and Urban Development Minister KT Rama Rao.
Stating that the two mega projects would be completed in two years, the minister while addressing a media conference here said that 31 sewage treatment plants (STPs) would be set up in addition to the existing 25 STPs at an estimated cost of Rs 3,866.21 crore. The second project costing Rs 1,200 crore includes construction of additional service reservoirs for HMWSSB 137 MLD and laying of a new pipeline network over a distance of about 2,100 km to supply adequate water to urban local bodies (ULBs) and gram panchayats .
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The existing 25 STPs are treating 772 Million Liters Per Day (MLD) sewage of the 1,650 MLD generated in GHMC limits. The minister said that this is 46.78 percent treatment of sewage. “Once 31 new STPs are commissioned, it will aid in the treatment of 1,950 MLD of sewage, which includes 1,650 MLD generated in GHMC limits and 300 MLD generated in ORR areas. This will meet the sewage treatment requirements for the next 10 years,” Rama Rao said, adding, “This will make Hyderabad the only city in the country that will receive 100 per cent sewage treatment.”
The project will be taken up in hybrid annuity mode, under which the state government will bear 40 per cent of the project cost and the rest will be borne by the contracting agencies. “This model is being implemented in the Varanasi Lok Sabha constituency represented by Prime Minister Narendra Modi,” he explained.
While complementing the efforts to augment the sewerage infrastructure, the government will also give top priority to adequate drinking water supply in marginal areas under ORR limits. After the formation of the state, HMWSSB implemented a project to supply water to 190 villages beyond GHMC limits and within ORR area at a cost of Rs 756.56 crore. However, colonies in village Gramkanta were not included in the project, the minister pointed out. With associations of several residential colonies appealing for drinking water supply, the government approved a Rs 1,200-crore project. The minister said that two lakh new connections would be given under this project and about 20 lakh families would benefit from it.
“When the details of the projects were presented to Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao during the recent cabinet meeting, he approved them immediately. On behalf of Hyderabadis, we thank the Chief Minister for approving the projects,” said Rama Rao. With regard to reassignment of sewerage maintenance work to HMWSSB in villages under ORR limits and beyond GHMC limits, the Minister said that there were no coordination issues between GHMC and HMWSSB. In fact, HMWSSB has already recruited 600 staff to carry out the maintenance works.