Clean Ganga: Essel Infra, National Mission to build Sewage Treatment Plant

The Rs 156 cr plant under Hybrid Annuity based PPP mode, is the first such project awarded under Namani Gange Programme

Essel Infra today announced signing a concession agreement with National Mission for Clean Ganga in Delhi for development of Rs 156 crore sewage treatment plant under hybrid annuity-based PPP (public-private-partnership) mode, the first such project awarded under Namani Gange Programme.

The project will be constructed in eighteen months and operated and maintained for 15 years by Essel Infra, an official statement said. It will treat 50 million litres of sewage in Varanasi city every day. Currently, this sewage is being deposited in the River Ganga without any treatment mechanism and is a major source of pollution.

Union Minister for Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation, Nitin Gadkari, said, "After success in the road sector where hybrid annuity-PPP model is the norm, we are trying it for the first time in the water resources sector. Under this agreement, 40 per cent of the cost will be linked to construction, and rest on the performance of the operator."

The Minister said that about 3,000 MLD (million litres a day) sewage from 97 cities on its banks are the biggest polluters of the Ganga. Of this, 1,750 MLD comes from just 10 cities. He said 34 projects worth Rs 3,581 crore had been sanctioned for Ganga cleaning between 2008-14, while 56 projects worth Rs 9,630 crore have been approved since 2014 till date.

Stating that 18 of these projects are ready, Gadkari said the other projects will also be done by March 2019.

"This is an important milestone to achieve the goal of 'Swachh Bharat' and cleaning the Holy River Ganga. We are committed to complete the project before the scheduled timeline," Rohit Modi, CEO, Essel Infra, said.

A consortium led by Essel Infra will undertake complete designing, development, finance and construction work of the treatment plant, its Effluent Disposal Pipeline and all associated infrastructure.