ISLAMABAD, May 20: The French government has released Rs913.3427 million for repair and completion of a Sewage Treatment Plant (STP) at I-9 area.

This was announced by the Capital Development Authority (CDA) chairman, Chaudhry Abdul Rauf, at a press briefing on Tuesday. The project is a joint venture of the CDA and the French government.

The total cost of the project is Rs1296.274 million, out of which Rs913.3427 million was to be provided by the French government, while Pakistan government’s share was Rs383.274 million.

The CDA chairman said the authority had hired a consultant to prepare complete feasibility study of the project. “After completion of the study, the project will be started soon,” he added.

He said there would be no delay on part of the CDA in launching the project. The project consultant, he said, had given a detailed briefing to the authority’s member engineering on different features of the plan.

It was also stated in the briefing that the STP would treat entire sewage to be produced in Islamabad till 2012, after which a similar plant would have to be installed at another place in the capital.

The CDA chairman said the government was also taking keen interest in the STP and had directed the authority to immediately commission the project.

The project includes completion of fourth phase of the STP, besides improvement and repair of other three phases.

With the completion of fourth phase, some 23 million gallons per day water will become usable for irrigation and industrial purposes, sources said.