Three plants to treat 68.7 million liters a day in the Kathmandu Valley’s river system
KATHMANDU, Jan 2: Prime Minister Khadga Prasad Oli is to lay foundation stone of a water treatment plant at Balkumari in Lalitpur on Thursday. This will be among the three water treatment plants in the Kathmandu Valley aimed at purifying water of Bagmati, Manohara, and Dhobikhola rivers.
The project financed through a loan from the Asian Development Bank is a bigger valley-wide water treatment project, jointly carried out by the Ministry of Water Supply and Kathmandu Upatyaka Khanepani Limited (KUKL).
PM Oli, Modi to jointly lay foundation stone for Arun-III
The other two plants under the project include Sallaghari Water Treatment Plant in Bhaktapur and Dhobhighat Water Treatment Plant in Lalitpur.
The project is awarded to Shanghai SafBon Water Services Co Ltd, a Chinese construction company specializing in water treatment plant. A contract agreement was signed between the government and SafBon on January 26, 2017, for the project that is expected to be completed within 2020.
However, the current status of the project shows that it may be delayed by 6 months. The contract was agreed on DBO (Design, Build and Operate) modality in which the project is also designed by the contractor. The contractor will operate the project for five years from the date of completion before handing over to the government. The total cost of the project is estimated to be US$ 30 million.
The project shall treat a total of 68.7 million liter water per day in the river system of Kathmandu Valley.
The Balkumari Plant will have a capacity of treating 17.5 MLD (million liters per day). Meanwhile, Sallaghari and Dhobighat plants will have the capacity of 14.2 MLD and 37 MLD, respectively.
Besides the three new plants, the existing Guhyeshwari Plant was also in the planning books to be upgraded. “The work on the Guhyeshwari treatment plant is 80 percent complete. It is expected to be completed by July this year,” said Devendra Prasad Dhakal, deputy director of the project.
