A Chinese tripartite joint venture inked a design and build contract with Dhaka Water Supply and Sewerage Authority (DWASA) for a reconstruction of eastern trunk main sub-project on Tuesday afternoon.
The Chinese JV, led by China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation (CCECC) with two Chinese specialized water companies, SafBon Water Services (Holding) Inc., Shanghai and Shanghai Municipal Engineering Design Institute (Group) Co., Ltd, was officially awarded the contract on 04 January this year. The contract is one of the seven trunk main sewer sub-projects under Dhaka Sanitation Improvement Project (DSIP), according to a press release.
“Under the Contract, the contractor is expected to design and construct 12.12 km trunk main sewer and one Sewage Pumping Station (SPS) at Golapbag. Out of the 12.12 km trunk main sewer, 5.97 km will be constructed by using micro tunneling method and the rest will be construed by using open-trench method,” Project Director Md. Rafiqul Islam said at the contract signing ceremony, “and it will enable DWASA to access to not only an improved sewage treatment facility, but also a chance to equip all DWASA engineers with the fresh micro-tunneling technology. This is the first time ever for Bangladesh to employ the micro tunneling method in the sewer treatment projects.”
“The sewerage system of Dhaka city was initiated exactly 100 years back in 1923 with about 50 km sewer lines and an imhofftank type treatment plant. The first conventional sewage treatment plant with 4 facultative lagoons built at Pagla in 1968 was renovated in 1978, serving 500,000 water users per day. ”said Dr Md Mizanur Rahman, Deputy Managing Director of DWASA.
The aforesaid contract is one sub-project of the World Bank and AIIB jointly-funded Dhaka Sanitation Improvement Project (DSIP), which aims to provide enhanced safe sanitation services to 1.5 million citizens through construction of one 200 MLD sewage treatment plant and reconstruction of sewer pipelines at Pagla area.