World Bank to support Ctg Wasa in waste management

The World Bank will provide technical support to Chattogram Wasa in removing the huge amount of human waste generated daily from various houses across the port city of Chattogram.

Under the "Chattogram Water Supply Development and Sanitation Project Phase-II", kitchen, bathroom and toilet waste will be collected by laying pipelines in city houses and sent directly to the Wasa's treatment plant. 

After treating the waste there, the supernatant water will be discharged into the river and the Bay of Bengal.

Under the project, Chattogram Wasa will collect 300 tonnes of toilet waste or faecal sludge from the houses of the city while the city corporation will collect 30 tonnes and send it to the treatment plant for distillation.

At present, 539 cubic metres of human waste is deposited in septic tanks daily. Out of this, 15 cubic metres and 20 cubic metres of human waste are managed by CCC and NGO Dushtha Shasthya Kendra (DSK) respectively. The rest of the waste flows to the Karnaphuli and Halda rivers through city canals.

Besides, faecal sludge (human waste) of about 30,000 poorly constructed toilets and 60,000 sanitary latrines from the slum dwellers of the city are now being dumped directly into the drains.

Md Ariful Islam, superintending engineer of Chattogram Wasa and project director, said, "We had a meeting with the CCC last Thursday following the proposal of the World Bank. Representatives of the World Bank were also present in the meeting."

"We will also sit with CDA. We will soon have a tripartite Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to implement the project," he said. 

The World Bank advised Chattogram Wasa to involve the Chattogram City Corporation (CCC) and Chattogram Development Authority (CDA) for implementing the Tk3,808-crore project.  Of the total cost, Chattogram Wasa will provide Tk50 crore while Korean Exim Bank will give the rest of the money. Erinco Sdn Bhd, a Malaysia-based consulting firm, is working on the implementation of this project. 

To implement this project, 41 wards of Chattogram city have been divided into six zones. The work of the first zone is currently underway, the project director added.

The six zones or catchment areas are - Catchment-1 Halisahar area of ​​the city, Catchment-2 Kalurghat, Catchment-3 Fatheyabad area, Catchment-4 East Bakalia, Catchment-5 Uttar Kattali, Catchment-6 Patenga area

According to the technical scrutiny done by Ctg Wasa, almost 30% of the houses in the city are still not suitable for pipeline installation. In such cases, at least 330 tonnes of household toilet waste will be taken to Wasa's treatment plant through vacuum trucks and vehicles.

A Korean company is working on the construction of two treatment plants — a Solid Waste Treatment Plant (STP) with a capacity of 100 million litres and a Faecal Sludge Treatment Plant (FSTP) with a capacity of 300 tonnes. Besides, two Chinese companies are also working on laying pipelines or networking.

According to the Sewerage Master Plan of Ctg Wasa, the city will generate around 515 million litres of sewage waste per day in 2030. Moreover, 715 cubic metres of human waste will accumulate.

To manage the huge waste, six sewage treatment plants and two faecal sludge treatment plants are needed in the city. A network of 616 km of sewerage pipes will be laid deep in the ground, covering an area of ​​591 square kilometres of the city and its surroundings.

The master plan also mentions making compost from the remaining waste and using it for forestry and farming purposes.