The sewage treatment plant (STP) established in Sector I-9 at a cost of Rs2.72 billion is a classic example of the misuse of funds by the CDA as the facility has lost its utility due to a poor planning.

The plant was supposed to treat sewage from over 25 sectors and supply the treated water to public parks, playgrounds, greenbelts and agricultural land. The remaining sewage after being treated was to be disposed of into Nullah Leh. But the plant could not receive the sewage because it had been set up without laying a sewer system.

“This is like building a bus station without any bus. We set up the treatment plant without having a proper network to bring sewage from the sectors,” said an official working at the STP.

Established under the Public Sector Development Programme (PSDP), the STP was inaugurated in 2009 by the then prime minister, Yousuf Raza Gilani. Initially, a treatment plant was set up at the site with just three filtration units, which stopped working in the late 90s.

In 2009, the CDA not only upgraded the older filtration units but also launched its mega phase (IV) with new clarifiers and equipment to cater to the entire city. The objective behind the establishment of the facility was to treat 17 million gallon daily (mgd) of sewage. However, after a few months of its inauguration the facility started losing its utility due to the apathy of the CDA.

At present, only two mgd sewage is being treated and disposed of into a nearby nullah where it is again polluted after mixing with the nullah water.

During a visit to the plant, Dawn noted that most of the clarifiers and other equipment had developed faults. There was also no proper network to carry sewage from the city to the plant.

“Since there is a faulty network of sewers, we receive very less flow of sewage. It was the responsibility of our officers to first lay a proper network before establishing the plant,” said the official who requested not to be named.

He added: “Our officers were more interested in the execution of this project because billions of rupees were involved in it, so they didn’t bother to pay attention to the sewage lines.”

Last year, five MNAs through a joint calling attention notice tried to draw the government’s attention towards the performance of the STP but to no avail.

According to the notice, the incompetence of the civic agency to run the project efficiently was not only costing the national exchequer millions of rupees every month but also causing health issues among the residents.

Like several other departments of the CDA, the STP was recently devolved to the newly-formed Metropolitan Corporation Islamabad (MCI).

When contacted, Chief Metropolitan Officer Suleman Khan Warraich said he would look into the matter.

“Since I recently joined the CDA/MCI, I have no idea about the working of the STP. Let me assure you I will visit the site and see what is going on there,” he said.

Interestingly, over 100 MCI officials are working in the plant and drawing millions of rupees as salary but without doing anything.

Published in Dawn, December 4th, 2016