Consultant appointed to prepare project report on new STP

The Tiruchi City Corporation has appointed a consultant to build a new sewage treatment plant (STP) at Panjapur to replace the existing STP, which is to be dismantled in the wake of building an integrated bus terminus.

The existing STP was constructed on a vast tract of its land by the Tiruchi Corporation in 1995 as part of phase-I of the underground drainage project. It has a capacity of 87 MLD. After processing the sewage collected in the project areas, the STP discharges the treated sewage water into the waste stabilisation ponds. While the open ponds absorb a portion of the treated water, the heat absorbs another portion. Out of the 87 MLD, the Corporation used only a portion of the land to process 57 MLD of sewage water.

With the selection of the site, where the existing STP functions, for building the Integrated Bus Terminus project, the Corporation has decided to close the STP and build a new STP at a remote corner of 570 acres of land owned by it at Panjapur.

According to reliable sources, the Corporation has appointed a Bengaluru-based consultant to prepare a Detailed Project Report (DPR) for the new STP. It will have a capacity of 100 MLD. Besides treating the sewage being collected from the service of the UGD I, the proposed STP will treat the sewage water to be collected under the UGD-II project, which is under construction.

It is said that the new STP project might cost about ₹ 180 crore. The exact cost of the project would be known once the submission of DPR. The consultant had been asked to submit the DPR within two to three weeks. The DPR would come up with the method of treating the sewage and the mode of discharging or using the treated water.

The land to build the new STP had been identified. It might require 15 to 20 acres of land. It would come up about 750 metres away from the new bus terminus site. It had been planned to complete the STP project within a year. Until its completion of it, the existing STP would continue to function. It would be dismantled only after the construction of the STP.