Wasa awaits soft loan for Rs14 bn sewerage project

LAHORE: The Punjab government on the request of Water and Sanitation Agency (Wasa) has asked the Economic Affairs Division for early processing of financial facility for the country’s first ever mega trenchless sewerage project worth Rs14 billion.

Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) has already committed a soft loan for laying a trenchless sewerage system from Larechs Colony to Gulshan-e-Ravi, Lahore. PC- I of the project was approved by ECNEC on 16 March, 2020 while pre-qualification of Project Management Consultant was completed in advance to save time.

The board approval by AIIB was expected in September, 2020, loan signing with AIIB was expected in October, 2020 and the award of work was expected by end of December, 2020. However, the project financing was delayed. Recently, Planning & Development Board Punjab wrote a letter (No. 4(46) ECA/P&D/20-I1) to the Economic Affairs Division, Islamabad with the subject “Lahore water and wastewater management project (LWWMP) to be financed by Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB).

The board requested the Economic Affair Division to approach AIIB for considering the financing of the component “Sewerage System from Larech to Gulshan-e-Ravi, Lahore (through Trench-Less Technology)” as a stand-alone project as Phase-I of LWWMP. It said the other components of the project including Surface Water Treatment Plant and Waste Water Treatment Plant may be taken up in Phase 2 & 3 respectively in order to pave the way for early commencement of the work.

Giving details of the project, Managing Director Wasa Syed Zahid Aziz said that scope of work of this project included laying of Trunk Sewer from Larechs Colony to Gulshan-e-Ravi Lahore (Approx. 13 Km), laying of Trunk Sewer from Infantry Road & Gulberg to Gulshan-e-Ravi Lahore (Approx. 15 Km) and construction of a pumping station at Ghulshan-e-Ravi Lahore.

He said the project will give benefit to over 4 million residents of several areas of Lahore including Larechs Colony, Gahri Shahau, Durand Road, Shimla Hill, Cooper Road, Queens Road, Bahawalpur Road, Chauburji Chowk, Gulshan-e-Ravi, Infantry Road, Mustafabad, Basti Saddian Shah, Mian Mir Colony, Gulberg, Shadman, Shah Jamal, Shama, Rasool Park, Samanabad, and adjoining localities. These new lines will replace many of the pre-partition sewerage lines of the provincial metropolis.

He said the government has already arranged a soft loan from Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) for this project. Talking about the project cost, the MD said it will be around Rs 14,165 million.

Discussing about the mode of execution of this mega project, Zahid Aziz said that the project will be implemented through Design, Build and Operate (DBO) mode and its completion time will be around 30 months.

The Wasa MD said that expected outcome of the project will include improvement of existing sewerage system by providing new trunk sewers, safe disposal of sewage/storm water from the project area. He said the project will also help in bringing environmental improvement in terms of restoration and rehabilitation of storm water channels, which may be utilized for recreational activities within the city.

The MD said that this was a first of its kind project in which no digging of roads will be done. He said the deep trench will be made using micro-tunnel boring technology. He said laying of this trunk sewerage line will not cause any inconvenience for the general public as there will be targeted excavations without open digging.

A manhole after every 300 meters will be made on the system, he said, adding laying down a sewerage system in Lahore was always considered a big problem because of open digging and shifting of other services but with this new technology the city will be free of any such issues.

He said no shifting of services will be included in this project as most of the utility services such as waterlines, Internet cables, telephone lines and etc existed around two to three metres in the ground whereas these new sewer lines will be laid down about 28 to 30 feet deep in the ground.

The MD said that the agency would continue use of advance and modern technology in its upcoming projects. He said that use of new technology would enable the agency to provide efficient and up-to-date services. He concluded that the project would help to resolve sewerage issue of multiple localities.