The Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) is in the final stages of completing 11 sewage treatment plants (STPs) under the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA)-funded river rejuvenation project, with around five set to be commissioned by the end of June.
The upcoming facilities will be equipped with a SCADA (supervisory control and data acquisition) system for real-time monitoring and efficient operations. The project has reached its final stage, and phased commissioning will begin from June.”
Under the project, the civic body is constructing 11 new STPs across the city to curb pollution in the Mula-Mutha river. Of these, 10 plants are under construction, while the remaining project in Aundh has seen progress after the Krishi Vidyapeeth recently conveyed no objection to de-reserving 0.33 hectares from a biodiversity heritage site.
Four STPs with a combined capacity of 81 million litres per day (MLD) including Warje (26 MLD), Wadgaon (28 MLD), Mundhwa (20 MLD) and Matsyakendra, Hadapsar (7 MLD) will become fully operational by June. Another set of plants at Kharadi (30 MLD), Dhanori (33 MLD), Baner (25 MLD) and Bhairoba Nala (75 MLD) are expected to start operations by the end of July.
The remaining two projects Tanajiwadi (15 MLD) will start in August, and Botanical Garden is awaiting land approval from the state government. Once completed, the project will add 396 MLD of sewage treatment capacity to the existing 477 MLD.
The project also includes laying nearly 50 km of trunk sewer lines across 19 locations, of which 18 km has been completed so far. The original deadline of March 2026 has been extended to December 2026. The project started in September 2020.
PMC has received around Rs 625 crore from the Centre so far, with an additional Rs 116 crore pending. The total JICA-supported funding for the project stands at Rs 841 crore.
The initiative is part of the National River Conservation Plan (NRCD), under which PMC aims to significantly reduce pollution in the Mula-Mutha river. Currently, Pune generates around 980 MLD of sewage daily, while the existing treatment capacity is 477 MLD.”
