When the sewage treatment plant (STP) was proposed at Muttathara, the Kerala Water Authority (KWA) drew up a plan to provide sewerage connectivity to the entire city. The STP has started functioning, but the plan to provide the sewerage network remains on paper.
The KWA began work on the STP in 2009 and envisaged providing the network along with it. The plan, KWA officials say, was to initially lay sewerage lines in residential areas at Muttathara, Vallakkadavu, Perunthanni — places near the plant site — and then extend them to coastal areas.
Tenders were invited four times to construct the lines at Muttathara, Vallakkadavu, and Perunthanni but not a single bidder evinced interest in the work. Similarly, tenders were floated twice for providing the network at Nemom and Karamana, but that too did not find takers. A senior KWA official said difficulty in executing the work had dissuaded contractors from taking part in the bidding. “A tender will be floated again, and if there are no bidders we may use horizontal drilling technology, which needs less digging but is more expensive,” the official said.
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However, officials are sceptical about taking up the project in other areas in the near future. Only 30 per cent of the city is covered by the sewerage network. The present network covers only five of the 18 ‘sewerage blocks’ that the city is divided into.
The sewerage network that exists now is for Block A (covering most parts of the Secretariat, Palayam, Thampanoor, Vazhuthacaud, Thycaud etc.); Block B (mostly parts of Kuravankonam, Nanthancode, Kannammoola, Pettah, Vanchiyoor, Chala, Kuriyathy etc.); Block C (parts of Fort, Manacaud, Sreevarahom, Attukal, Ambalathara, Chakka etc.); Block D (most areas of Pattom, Goureesapattom, Kesavadasapuram, Muttada etc.); and Block E (parts of Poojappura, Mudavanmugal, Sasthamangalam, Pangode, Kowdiar etc.).
As several parts of the city are yet to get sewerage connection, the 107-mld capacity STP is treating only 32 mld sewage now.
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