MCT Enviro to lay Rs 295cr pipeline for effluents

Alarmed by the high-level of pollution created by textile processing units located on the outskirts of Ahmedabad such as Narol and Piplaj, city-based MCT Enviro Infrastructure Ltd is constructing a 78-km effluent discharge pipeline up to the Gulf of Khambat.

A special purpose vehicle "" MCT (Ahmedabad) Textile Effluent Cluster Ltd "" will be formed for the project in partnership with the Gujarat government.

The pipeline, to be constructed on BOOT (build, own, operate, transfer) basis at a cost of Rs 295 crore, will be handed over to the Ahmedabad Textile Processors Association (ATPA) after five years from the date of commissioning, which is likely by June 2009.

The project will witness utilisation of glass re-inforced plastic (GRP) pipes of 1,000 mm diameter with a peak load capacity of 120 MLD (million litres a day).

"Earlier, the capacity permitted for the effluent discharge pipeline by the Gujarat Pollution Control Board (GPCB) in the industrial areas of Narol and Piplaj was 30 MLD but textile processing units have been illegally discharging effluent at a rate of 60 MLD. With serious pollution problems arising out of this, we felt the need for a pipeline with 100 MLD capacity, which leads directly to the sea," said Vinod Mittal, director of MCT Enviro.

"Textile processing units are known to discharge harmful chemicals and effluents but in recent times the existing infrastructure had been overburdened by the increase in such discharge. A 100 MLD pipeline is most likely to ease the pressure. Moreover, the pipeline will be environmentally safe for the region since it will lead directly to sea unlike other pipelines which lead to Sabarmati river," said an ATPA member.

The plan for the pipeline has already been approved by the National Institute of Oceanography (NIO), which has granted Tarakpur in Cambay as the place of discharge, he said.

The company has also applied for subsidies under the Technology Upgradation Fund Scheme (TUFS) with the state government for the project, said Mittal, adding that it would soon invite bids for outsourcing the construction work.

Set up jointly by Mittal and Chetan Contractor, a Surat-based environmentalist, MCT Enviro Infrastructure Ltd plans to take up more such projects.