Dhaka WASA’s Sayedabad plant cost to go up by Tk 2,921cr

The Local Government Division has proposed to increase the cost of the Construction of the Sayedabad Water Treatment Plant Project by Tk 2,921 crore and sought an extension of the deadline by four more years.

The project is aimed to reduce the use of groundwater in the capital.

The executive committee of the National Economic Council is likely to approve the proposal along with seven other projects at its meeting today, a senior official of the Planning Commission told The Business Post.

The proposal titled ‘Sayedabad Water Treatment (Phase-III) (First Revision) now estimates the project cost at Tk 7,518 crore, of which Tk 2,625.23 crore will come from the government exchequer and Tk 4,862.79 crore as project assistance and the remaining Tk 30 crore from the Dhaka Water Supply and Sewerage Authority.

The proposal sought to extend the deadline to complete the project, being implemented by Dhaka WASA, to June 2025. The initial cost of the project was estimated at Tk 4,597.36 crore and the project was supposed to be completed by June 2020 which was later extended to June 2021 for the Covid pandemic.

Officials of the Planning Commission said the project cost increased due to cost increase in different sub-sectors and other reasons.

According to the proposal, Dhaka WASA will treat 45 crore litres of water per day from the plant.

Once completed, the total capacity of the three water treatment plants including the existing two plants, Sayedabad Phase-I and Phase-II will be 90 crore litres per day.

Meanwhile, the ECNEC is likely to approve a 400KV power transmission line project for importing electricity from India through Barapukuria-Bogura-Kaliakair. The Power Division has revised the project styled ‘Barapukuria-Bogura-Kaliakair 400 KV Line Project (First Revision)’ increasing cost by Tk 730 crore and extend two years for implementing the project.

The project aims to construct 120 kilometres double circuit transmission line with a 400KV capacity from Barapukuria to Bogura and 140 kilometres line from Bourga to Kaliakair.

The transmission line will supply uninterrupted electricity from Rooppur Nuclear Power Plant and imported electricity from neighbouring India.

Now the cost is estimated at Tk 4,052 crore which Tk 1,822 crore from the government exchequer and Tk 2,050 crore as project assistance and Tk 179 crore from Power Grid Company of Bangladesh (PGCB). PGCB will implement the project by June 2024.

Initially, the cost of the project was estimated at Tk 3,322 crore and the implementation deadline was fixed by June 2022.