New Delhi, Oct 7 (IANS): Aimed at eliminating the flow of untreated sewage from Bihar's Bhagalpur town into river Ganga, a tripartite concession agreement was signed on Thursday for the development of Sewage Treatment Plants (STPs), officials said.
The STPs for Bhagalpur would come up on Hybrid Annuity PPP mode at a cost of Rs 385.09 crore.
The tripartite concession agreement was signed between National Mission for Clean Ganga (NMCG), Bihar Urban Infrastructure Development Corporation Ltd (BUIDCO) and M/s Adani Enterprises Limited in JV with Organica Technologiak Zrt., Hungary, a release from the Jal Shakti Ministry said here.
The NMCG approved the project for construction of STPs of total capacity of 45 million litres per day, among other works, such as developing Interception & Diversion (I&D) structures, I&D network laying, Sewage Pumping Stations including Operation and Maintenance for 15 years etc. This project also aims to take care of the existing sewerage problems in the town and the resultant sewage pollution in the river Ganga, the release said.
The agreement was signed by Director (Projects), NMCG, Vinod Kumar; Executive Engineer, BUIDCO, Amlendu Kumar Ranjan, and authorised signatory on behalf of the Concessionaire, Akchhyakumar Singh.
Director General, NMCG, Rajiv Ranjan Mishra and ED (Projects), NMCG, Ashok Kumar Singh, were also present on the occasion along with representatives from BUIDCO and the concessionaire.
The river stretch of river Ganga from Sultanganj to Kahalgaon falls under Vikramshila Gangetic Dolphin Sanctuary with a total length of 60 km.
The pollution abatement of river Ganga in this stretch is, therefore, very significant in order to maintain the habitat of the Gangetic Dolphin and other aquatic animals.
"This will ensure maintenance of the rich biodiversity of the region. This project will abate the pollution generated from the city with significant and stringent performance standard to ensure the habitat of the Gangetic Dolphin is no longer polluted," the release added.