LAHORE: The federal government has approved Rs56bn for the country’s largest wastewater treatment plant for Lahore, paving the way for its launch within the next six months after completion of the bidding process.

“The Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (Ecnec), in its meeting held on Aug 21, gave its approval. The project will be executed at Babu Sabu (Lahore),” a senior official privy to the meeting told Dawn on Friday.

“It is the first ever wastewater treatment project in Lahore,” the official maintained, adding that 24pc of the total funds would be provided by the Housing, Urban Development and Public Health Engineering Department and 74pc would be given by the Agence Française de Développement (AFD)—a French government funding/donor agency.

The initiative, aligned with the approved master plan of Water and Sanitation Agency (Wasa) Lahore, aims to provide the city with its first large-scale wastewater treatment facility. The housing department got it approved by the Provincial Development Working Party (PDWP) on Aug 13.

The plant will be constructed in three phases: a 12-month pre-construction stage, followed by 42 months of construction and a 36-month period for operations and maintenance (O&M). Under Phase I, sewage from central Lahore, including flows from the Cantt Drain, Multan Road and Gulshan-i-Ravi pumping stations, will be discharged into the Ravi after treatment, improving the city’s environmental health. The Phase II will consist of transition to full reuse, including reuse programmes that would scale up to include composting, RDF production, biochar manufacturing, fertilizer pelletization, brick production and phosphorus recovery.

The Phase III activities include zero storage & circular economy. All reuse pathways would be fully integrated within a resource recovery park, eliminating the need for additional storage and achieving a circular economy model.

Published in Dawn, August 22nd, 2026