With the project already achieving 90 percent completion, the fresh deadline has been fixed as August 31.
WD News: The highly-polluted Buddha nullah, a seasonal tributary of Sutlej flowing in Ludhiana, would soon become Buddha River, courtesy Rs. 840-crore rejuvenation project.
With the project entering the advanced stage of completion, one of the most polluted water bodies, running almost parallel to Sutlej through most of Ludhiana district, including 14 km in Ludhiana city, before merging with Sutlej, would shed the infamous tag of “nullah”, the Municipal Corporation (MC) has said.
The first-of-its-type project had missed four deadlines to complete the capital work after facing teething problems and was adversely hit due to Covid restrictions during the initial months after the launch in December 2020.
Several components of the project have been completed while the rest of them are in the advanced stage of completion and the pace of ongoing work has been further accelerated to complete it by August 31.
A sum of Rs 460.97 crore had been spent so far, which accounted for 88.82 percent of the total capital work cost of Rs 519 crore, while a sum of Rs 21.6 crore, which was 80.63 percent of a total of Rs 26.79 crore earmarked as operation & maintenance cost for the construction period, has also been paid to the executing agency. Besides, Rs 294 crore would be spent on operation & maintenance costs for another 10 years after completion of construction.
While the project amount as per DPR (detailed project report) was Rs 650 crore, the work was awarded at Rs 839.79 crore, which included Rs 519 crore for capital work and Rs 320.79 crore as operation and maintenance cost. Besides, Rs 22 crore was earmarked as a provisional sum.
Of the two new sewage treatment plants (STPs) being constructed, a 225-MLD capacity STP at Jamalpur, which is the biggest such facility in the state, is already been established while 75 percent of the work to set up a 60-MLD capacity STP at Balloke has been completed so far with the target to make it functional within next couple of months.
Under the domestic effluent management of the project, six intermediate pumping stations (IPSs) on the banks of Buddha Nullah are being installed of which two units – 12-MLD capacity at Tibba and 8-MLD capacity at Sundar Nagar – have been established and are under trial run, while 70 percent work has been completed on 5-MLD capacity IPS at Kundanpuri, 68 percent on 13-MLD capacity at Upkar Nagar, 66 percent on LMH IPS, and 15 percent progress has been achieved to set up another IPS near Gaushala.
The project also entails rehabilitation and repair of existing STPs and pumping stations under which the work on two STPs and MPSs including 105-MLD capacity at Balloke and another 50-MLD capacity at Bhattian has already been completed while 92 percent of work has been completed on another 111-MLD capacity STP and MPS at Bhattian and 50 percent work has been achieved on another 152-MLD capacity STP and MPS at Balloke.
Under industrial waste management, three CETPs had been installed recently, which are being operated by Punjab Dyeing Association under the supervision of the Punjab Pollution Control Board. These include 50-MLD and 40-MLD capacity two CETPs at Jail Road for Tajpur Road and Focal Point area industries, while another 15-MLD capacity CETP is made functional at Bahadurke Road to cover the industries in that area.
Besides, the work on dairy waste management has also picked up the pace of the construction of two ETPs for handling liquid waste from the dairy complex. While 26 percent of work has been completed on the 3.75-MLD capacity ETP at Haibowal, 25 percent of work has been achieved on another 2.25-MLD capacity plant at Tajpur Road with a target to complete them by August 31.
The laying of the pipeline along the Buddha Nullah banks has already been completed by placing 6,475 metres on the west side, 4,944 metres on the east side, and 650 metres from Kundanpuri to Upkar Nagar.
Source & image courtesy: Tribune India
