DHAKA, Jan 19 (NNN-BSS) – A joint venture of Chinese companies has been contracted to renovate a key part of the Pagla sewage treatment plant here, through the micro-tunneling technique, the first project to use such a method in Bangladesh.
The design and build contract was signed on Tuesday with Dhaka Water Supply and Sewerage Authority (DWASA), under which the joint venture, led by China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation (CCECC), is expected to design and construct a 12.2-km-long trunk main sewer, and one sewage pumping station, covered under the WD2 section of the Dhaka Sanitation Improvement Project.
Out of the 12.2-km-long trunk main sewer, 5.97 km will be constructed by using the micro-tunneling technique, Rafiqul Islam, the project director, said at the contract signing ceremony.
“It will enable DWASA to access not only an improved sewage treatment facility, but also a chance to equip all DWASA engineers with the fresh micro-tunneling technology,” he added.
“This is the first time ever for Bangladesh, to employ the micro-tunneling method in the sewer treatment projects.”
The micro-tunneling technology is helpful in reducing the construction’s impact on traffic and the environment, as Dhaka is regarded as the most densely populated city in the world.
The sub-project, to reconstruct the Pagla sewage treatment plant for the third time, since it was built in 1968, is undertaken by CCECC and its partners, the SafBon Water Service (Holding) Inc. in Shanghai and the Shanghai Municipal Engineering Design Institute Co., Ltd.
The Chinese contract is one of seven trunk main sewer sub-projects, under the Dhaka Sanitation Improvement Project, which aims to provide enhanced safe sanitation services, to 1.5 million citizens, and is funded jointly by the World Bank and the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank.– NNN-BSS
