KOZHIKODE: Uncertainty remains over Kozhikode city corporation’s proposed sewage treatment plant (STP) at Avikkalthode as there is no sign of an end to the local protest against the project. Due to the agitation, the agency which is entrusted with the plant construction has already missed the deadline. Though the corporation extended the deadline to March 2023, the project’s future is still in doubt as even preliminary work has not been completed.
The Rs 59.76-crore project received administrative and technical sanctions from the state government in 2019. As per the detailed project report, the work had to be completed in 18 months. In the initial stage, the project was expected to be completed by March 2022. The corporation completed the tender procedures only in 2021 after crossing many hurdles. In March 2021, the work was awarded to a Bengaluru-based agency.
Causing further delay, the civic body failed to start work on the project following the local protest. Local residents demand the corporation find another location for the plant as the present area is densely populated.
Avikkalthode Janakeeya Samarasamithi convener Irfan Habeeb said the local residents are not against the setting up of STP. But it should be constructed on proper land excluding thickly populated areas.