Construction of five sewage treatment plants put on hold

MUMBAI: After the coastal road project was stuck owing to delay in approvals, another of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation’s (BMC) ambitious projects has hit

MUMBAI: After the coastal road project was stuck owing to delay in approvals, another of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation’s (BMC) ambitious projects has hit a roadblock. The construction and upgrading of five sewage treatment plants (STPs) under the Mumbai Sewage Disposal Project (MSDP) II is yet to take off, as the Central Pollution Control Board is yet to finalise the discharge standards.

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The discharge norms that are under revision have put on hold the tendering procedure of five STPs at Worli, Bandra, Bhandup, Ghatkopar and Versova, therefore causing a subsequent delay to the construction of these plants, said officials.

“We were ready with various tender documents since the past three months for these STPs, but owing to a lack of technical specifications such as discharge standards, the tenders could not be processed,” said an official.

If sources are to be believed, the norms have to be approved by the Ministry of Environment and Climate Change (MoEFCC).

Meanwhile, just a few months before the civic polls, one of the Shiv Sena’s 2012 election promises is ready to go on the floor. The bhoomi pujan of Colaba STP – one of the seven STPs planned – before starting the construction work that will treat 37 million litres of waste water daily is likely to take place by end of this month.

“When we finalised the Colaba tenders, it being a smaller project had discharge norms in place and we could go ahead with the project. On September 30, the environment ministry decided to come up with uniform discharge standards for coastal states. With revision underway, the MSDP II project has been put off till next year,” said a senior civic official.