Comments
Sewage needs to be looked at as a resource to ensure water security in the country, especially as India looks to develop smart cities, Arun Lakhani, CMD, Vishvaraj Infrastructures Ltd, has said.
“Sewage is a large resource available within the city which can be treated and used for industrial and commercial purposes. This will result in releasing fresh water for residents which was earlier allocated to industry, creating water security for at least 30-40 years. The government should work towards developing business models so that private players can set up treatment plants,” Lakhani said.
Lakhani said that since drinking water is an urgent need, due to limited funds, towns are taking up drinking water projects and leaving sewage out. “The result is that we are pumping out 38,000 million litres of sewage water daily without treatment,” Lakhani said.
Orange City Water Vishvaraj Infrastructures Ltd has been operating ‘Nagpur 24x7 pressurised water supply scheme’ in public-private partnership mode in collaboration with Veolia Group under the project named ‘Orange City Water.’
The project includes operations and management of the existing distribution system (treatment plants and distribution networks) and rehabilitation of a significant part of the network including replacement of customer connections and meters.
The project was showcased as a model case study to other cities at the launch of the Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT) and Smart City. Water and sanitation is among the top three focus areas under the missions.
Business potential Lakhani said, “AMRUT is a huge business opportunity. Since we have been managing water supply in Nagpur for the last three years, we know the water needs of a city. In 3-6 months, we’ll have a better idea of the revenue from the mission.”
The company has also submitted water treatment and reuse proposals to the Rajasthan government. “We expect some of them to come through in the coming months,” he said.
Apart from a sewage treatment plant in Nagpur, Vishvaraj Infrastructures has projects in Karnataka under which it is supplying 24x7 water supply to five towns namely Bidar, Basavkalyan, Magadi, Shahbad and Yadgir.
Comments
COMMENT NOW
Comments
Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.
We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of TheHindu Businessline and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.