Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina is set to inaugurate the recently completed modern and environment-friendly Dasherkandi Sewage Treatment Plant (STP) in Dhaka, the largest of its kind in South Asia, on Thursday.
The Dasherkandi Sewage Treatment Plant is the first modern STP and also the first modern sludge drying incinerator in Bangladesh as well as the largest single sewage treatment plant in South Asia.
Having the capacity to treat 500 million litres of sewage, the modern plant will play an enormous role in preventing environmental pollution and improving the water quality of Rampura canal, Balu and Shitalakshya rivers and other water bodies.
With the opening of the plant constructed on the East of Aftabnagar area, Bangladesh will set a milestone in the country’s sewage treatment.
In the plant, some 45 tonnes of fly ash will be generated from sewage sludge a day, which can be used as raw materials in cement factories.
The Dasherkandi STP will treat sewage coming from a number of the city’s areas, including Tejgaon, Niketan, Badda, Banani, Gulshan (part), Banani, Ramna, Eskaton, Nayatola, Moghbazar, Wireless, Mouchak, Outer Circular Road, Mohanagar Housing, Hatirjheel, Kalabagan and Dhanmondi (part).
The Dasherkandi plant will be able to treat 20-25 per cent of the 2,000 million litre sewage generated in Dhaka city.
The plant was constructed as part of a master plan taken up by WASA to construct five STPs to treat 100 per cent of the sewage generated in Dhaka, in a modern and environment-friendly way, said Dhaka WASA Managing Director Taqsem A Khan on Tuesday.
“The plant is modern and environment-friendly one. The quality of water treated in the plant is good enough,” he said.
Taqsem said four other modern sewage treatment plants will be constructed in Pagla, Rayerbazar, Uttara, and Mirpur aiming to gain the capacity to treat 100 per cent sewage of Dhaka by 2030.
He said the prime minister will also lay the foundation stone of the Pagla sewage treatment plant by renovating the existing one.
When the Pagla sewage treatment plant is completed, some 40 per cent of sewages generated in Dhaka can be treated, said the WASA managing director.
The Dasherkandi STP was implemented on 62 acres of land at the cost of Tk 3,482 crore. Of the cost, Tk 1,106.42 crore came from the government’s fund, while Tk 10 crore from Dhaka WASA, and Tk 2,366 crore from EXIM Bank of China.
The work of the China-funded project started on July 1, 2018. The operation and management of the plant will be run by its contractor, HydroChina Corporation, for one year.
According to the project, a waste lifting station on the west side of Rampura bridge, a five-kilometre trunk sewer line from Rampura to Aftabnagar and Dasherkandi plant and the main treatment plant at Dasherkandi were constructed.
