Contracts awarded for two STPs in Haridwar

Ravi S Singh

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, August 28

In a bid to give push to the clean Ganga drive, the Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation Ministry has awarded for the first time contracts for three STPs (sewage treatment plants), including two in Haridwar (Uttarakhand), under hybrid annuity model (HAM).

The proposed STPs in Haridwar are of 68 MLD and 14 MLD capacity each. The third, in Varanasi, is of 15 MLD.

The plants are aimed to plug points through which humongous quantity of waste waters of the holy cities’ get dumped in the river.

The contract has been awarded vide the National Mission for Clean Ganga—a body of the ministry.

The ministry said HAM is first of its kind in the country’s waste water management sector. The Centre will completely fund the STPs’ construction ensuring that there is no shortage of resources for the project.

The unique financial model is a mix between build, operate and transfer(BOT) and engineering, procurement and construction(EPC) under public private partnership (PPP) model. 

Besides establishing the sewage treatment plants, the contract is for their operation and maintenance for a period of 15 years. Subsequently, they will be handed over to the local bodies concerned.