PM Oli lays foundation of sewage treatment plant

Lalitpur / Jan 3: Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli has laid the foundation stone for a sewage treatment plant at Balkumari of Lalitpur today.

The plant is to be constructed by the Ministry of Water Supply and Sanitation. It is targeted to be completed within the coming five years. Such sewage treatment plants are located at Guheshwori, Sallaghari, Balkumari (Kodku) and Sundarighat in the Kathmandu Valley.

Speaking in the foundation-laying ceremony, Prime Minister Oli said the government was working vigorously to complete the Melamchi Water Supply Project and distribute water from the project in Kathmandu at the earliest possible even if delayed by few weeks.

“Although its progress was at a snail’s pace for 27 years, it has been accelerated now,” he said of the work progress on the project.

On a separate topic, PM Oli said 70 percent of the total water flowing in the Ganges River in India was the water fed by rivers flowing through Nepal, which has saved Bihar and Uttar Pradesh of India from desertification.

Minister for Water Supply and Sanitation, Bina Magar said that the water that is treated at the plant could be used for various purposes. “The sludge could be used for generating electricity and producing organic manure,” the Minister suggested.

Ministry secretary Gajendra Kumar Thakur shared that the Ministry has stared works for reviving the rivers that are on the verge of becoming ‘dead’. He added that besides supplying water in cities across the country, works on sewerage have also been undertaken.

Mayor of Lalitpur Metropolitan City, Chiri Babu Maharjan said the locals of Balkumari have been assured that no stench would come from the sewage plant and discussions were on with the locals of Sundarighat regarding construction of such plant there.

Project Director at the Project Implementation Directorate, Tiresh Prasad Khatri expressed concern that although the shortage of drinking water in Kathmandu Valley would be resolved once the water is drawn from Melamchi to Kathmandu and supplied through the Melamchi Water Supply Project, the volume of sewage would increase posing challenges to manage it. RSS