Yamuna cleaning to begin in June ( Hindu 15 April 2011)

Six companies to be awarded bid for work by May

Work on cleaning up the Yamuna by laying interceptor sewers is likely to begin by June, with the Delhi Jal Board hopeful of awarding work for the project by next month. The Board has received bids from over 20 companies.

According to a senior DJB official, the work involves micro tunnelling and with few Indian companies having expertise in the field, a lot of international companies have shown interest. “There are some Indian companies that have tied up with the international ones in a joint bid for work.”

The work will be divided into six segments and be awarded to each company. “At least six companies will be shortlisted by May for the work. The smallest component of the work will be completed in 1.5 years whereas the biggest will be finished in three years. The ongoing work will be reviewed periodically by a project monitoring unit, which will include officials of the Delhi Government's Urban Development (UD) department, DJB and Engineers India Limited,” the official said.

A third party monitoring will also be undertaken by the Independent Quality Review Management Committee that will also have on board members from the DJB, UD department and members from the Delhi Pollution Control Committee.

“We are keen to begin work on the construction of four new sewage treatment plants (STPs) simultaneously. Once the sewers are laid and water trapped, we will need the plants to be ready and functioning so that work on these projects should coincide,” the official explained.

The DJB wants to award work for the STPs by May. “The STPs at Pappankalan and Nilothi will be of 20 MGD, the one at Delhi Gate will be 15 MGD and the fourth at Coronation Pillar will be 40 MGD. Together these will cost Rs.600 crore,” the official said.

“Rehabilitation of Bela Road and Ring Road sewers will also be completed and the discharge trapped at the Bela Road truck sewer be taken directly to the Okhla STP,” the official added.

For the interceptor sewer projects, 35 per cent of the money will come from the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission, 50 per cent from the Delhi Government, 15 per cent ad grant from the Delhi Government and Rs.800 crore as loan from HUDCO.