Financing agreements for developing sewage treatment plants (STPs) and sewerage network for Digha and Kankarbagh zones of Patna in Bihar were signed between DK Sewage Project, a subsidiary of Va Tech Wabag and PFS.
The scope of the project includes development of sewage treatment plants of 150 MLD capacity along with sewerage network of over 453 km in Digha and Kankarbagh zones.
This is the first-of-its-kind project which comprises a mix of design, build, operate and transfer (DBOT) scope and hybrid annuity model (HAM) scope.
With the implementation of sewerage projects all the sewage zones of Patna city will be covered with sewerage network and sewage treatment capacity to achieve the objective of the Namami Gange Programme of preventing any untreated waste water entering the river Ganga. The capacity of Digha STP will be 100 MLD and Kankarbagh STP will be 50 MLD.
PFS has agreed to fund Rs 85.84 crore for development of STPs in the form of long-term debt. This is the second project financed by PFS under the HAM model of development. An earlier one was the Prayagraj sewerage scheme under the One City-One Operator concept through HAM.
The sewage network in the project is to be laid in DBOT model wherein 100 percent of the contractual payment will be made during the construction period.
On the contrary, for development of STPs under HAM, 40 percent of construction cost will be paid during the construction period of 24 months and the balance 60 percent will be paid as quarterly annuities along with interest and Operation & Maintenance (O&M) cost during the 15-year operation period.
DKSPPL will be responsible for the entire development and operation of both sewerage network and STPs for 15 years of the concession period.
The payment during operations period will be subject to achievement of key performance indicators (KPIs) in terms of treated waste water quality for the STPs.
Under the Namami Gange Programme, in Patna, 11 sewerage schemes for development of sewage treatment capacity of 350 MLD along with laying of 1140.3 km sewerage network has been taken up at a total cost of Rs 3,237 crore.
STP projects in Beur (43 MLD) and Karmalichak (37 MLD) are completed and were inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2020. Another STP project at Saidpur (60 MLD) and adjoining network has been completed recently. STP projects are also sanctioned in adjoining towns of Patna, namely Danapur, Phulwari Sariff and Fatuha.
