HYDERABAD: The use of Faecal Sludge Treatment Plants (FSTPs) in the State’s 71 Urban Local Bodies (ULBs) will soon become a reality. After the State government had initiated the implementation of the FSTPs in the ULBs under a Public-Private Partnership (PPP), the Commissioner and Director of Municipal Administration (CDMA) department has decided to select an independent engineer for the supervision and monitoring of the construction of the treatment plants in the municipalities and a few municipal corporations. The CDMA is the final authority in the selection of the independent engineer.
The Municipal Administration and Urban Development (MAUD) Department had authorised the CDMA as the nodal department to eradicate manual scavenging, elimination of open defecation, solid and liquid waste management and capacity building activities to maintain the cleanliness and hygiene in the urban areas of Telangana. The government has declared its urban areas Open Defecation Free (ODF) by providing individual household toilets as well as community and public toilets. Now, the State has decided to move towards the status of ODF+, which includes waste water management and treatment of faecal sludge and septage. Accordingly, it took up the implementation of FSTPs in the ULBs.
The ULBs have been grouped into seven packages and a transparent competitive bidding process was conducted recently, wherein Concessionaires and Concession Agreements were signed. In accordance with the provisions of the concession agreement between CDMA and respective concessionaires, the latter will be responsible for the design, engineering, procurement and construction of the FSTPs.
To ensure that the FSTPs are developed in accordance with rules and construction requirements set out in CA, the CDMA will select the independent engineer through an open competitive bidding process.
FSTP is the collection, transport, and treatment of faecal sludge from septic tanks or other onsite sanitation systems. Fecal sludge is a mixture of human excreta, water and solid wastes that are disposed in pits and tanks of onsite sanitation systems.
FSTPs are necessary in densely populated areas where a proportion of population is not connected to a sewerage network and the covering and rebuilding pit latrines is not possible.