Two more Chinese companies are set to receive work orders for two additional components of the Saidabad Water Treatment Plant (WTP) Phase III, paving the way for full-scale physical work on the long-delayed project, more than a decade after its initiation.
The DWASA will sign a contract with the two companies -- China Petroleum Pipeline Engineering Company Limited (CPPECL) and Hubei Industrial Construction Company (HICC) -- at a ceremony at its headquarters today. They will develop primary distribution network and secondary distribution network for the Tk 160.15 billion worth of project. The CPPECL secured the contract at €62 million, while the HICC won work worth €3.2 million.
Earlier, the DWASA awarded China Machinery Engineering Corporation (CMEC) to €292 million contract to construct raw water-pumping station, treatment plant and distribution pipeline under the much-heralded project designed to ensure safe drinking water for people living in Dhaka from the Meghna River. All work is scheduled to be completed within 42 months.
Though the project, taken up in 2013, has progressed with the selection of three contractors, official sources said selection of contractor for one more component is yet to be complete. The DWASA has recently opened a bid and it may take up to a year to finalise the selection.
The project office, however, claim that the delay would not affect the deadline for completing the physical work of entire project.
Once completed, the project will boost the city's water supply capacity by 450 million litres per day, which, a study shows, will meet 40 per cent of the city's demand.
However, the project office has struggled to address polluters discharging industrial and municipality waste into rivers. Experts said the government is yet to take stern action against the river pollution when the Meghna remains the last resort for supplying safe drinking water for over 25 million population of Dhaka.
They pointed out that all five rivers surrounding the Dhaka city have already become so polluted that their water is no longer treatable.
French government's development agency, Agence Francaise de Developpement (AFD), has already funded €200 in the water sector of Dhaka and Chattogram to support accessible and resilient water and sanitation system. Another partner is Germany'a promotional bank KfW.
Deputy Head of Water Division of AFD Paris Madeleine Portmann told the FE that aside from allowing a doubling capacity, the project will include a sludge treatment facility for the entire site.
smunima@yahoo.com