ISLAMABAD, Aug 20: The French government has released a soft-term loan of Rs913 million to Pakistan for the improvement and extension of sewage treatment plant located at sector I-9, a source said on Tuesday.

The project includes the construction of fourth phase of the plant, improvement and refurbishment of first two phases and repair of the third phase.

The total cost of the project is Rs1296.274 million ,of which Rs913.3427 million would be shared by France while the remaining amount of Rs383.274 million would be spent by the government of Pakistan.

It may be mentioned that the Economic Affair Division had rejected the offer last year when a French delegation visited the country to finalise the deal. The Division wanted the money as grant-in-aid instead of loan.

The source said the French delegation had also received a similar response from the Capital Development Authority in a meeting held with its senior officials.

The fourth phase of the sewage treatment plant is stated to be in doldrums and the other three phases are not giving the desired results, as there developed some faults in them.

The source said the project of sewage treatment plant was approved by the Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (Ecnec) in 1994. But, due to delay in its execution, the cost of the project has escalated. In 1994, the cost required for the completion of the project was Rs1217.159.

Soan River receives about 23 million gallon per day (MGD) sewage from Islamabad. This sewage is stated to be one of the major source of environmental pollution in the twin cities of Rawalpindi and Islamabad. People use Soan water for drinking purposes which is a great health hazard. If the fourth phase of the sewage treatment plant is completed, some 20 MGD sewage will be liable to use for irrigation and industrial purposes.

The source said there were two other firms —- one from UK and another from Switzerland —- that were interested in execution of the project but they refused to commission it after Pakistan conducted nuclear tests in 1998.