'Dhaka under cent percent sewage treatment by 2030'

Engineer Taqsem A Khan, Managing Director (MD) of Dhaka Water Supply and Sewerage Authority (Dhaka WASA), said 100 percent sewage treatment plants will be built in Dhaka by 2030.

Dhaka WASA Sewerage Master Plan has been prepared keeping in view of sanitation in the city. Although the plan is set to be implemented in 2030, five treatment plants will bring 100% of the city under the purview of the service by 2026-27, he said at a press conference held at Dhaka WASA headquarters in Karwan Bazar, to share the achievement of Dhaka WASA in the last 10 years and the future plans.Mentioning that Dhaka WASA is currently providing safe water to more than two crore people in capital, Taqsem said, "The company is currently producing 245-250 crore liters of water against the demand of about 260-265 crore liters." 

Besides, work is underway to ensure 70 per cent surface and 30 percent groundwater supply for city dwellers by 2024. Addressing the drainage management system of the capital, Taqsem opined that the storm-water drainage management should be handled by a single authority. At present seven authorities are looking after the management - Dhaka Wasa, the city corporations, Bashundhara Group for its own residential area, Rajuk, Bangladesh Water Development Board and the Cantonment Board respectively.

However, the drainage management should be given to the city corporations as the solid waste management is a part of their duty, he added. Mentioning that the construction work of Dasherkandi Sewage Treatment Plant is already progressing at a fast pace, WASA MD said that the Tk 3,400 crore project will be completed by 2021. The World Bank has already allocated funds for capacity building of the existing sewage treatment plant at Pagla and construction of two separate sewers at Uttara and Mirpur areas and work is underway to implement it. He also said that a feasibility study is being done for Rayerbazar area.

Taksem said, "I have been able to reduce the system loss from 40 per cent to 20 percent. We are building a network distribution area or DMA. There will be a total of 145 DMAs in Dhaka of which 64 DMAs have already been created. Work for the rest is underway and we're expecting it to be finished by December 2022. Dhaka WASA MD said, "we are trying to implement smart water management system so that Dhaka WASA can get the meter reading through the web. Then this will be the first digital meter reading system in South Asia." WASA senior officials were present at the meeting.