JICA-Funded Sewage Treatment Plant at Aundh Receives Approval for Biodiversity Site Land Use

The Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) funded sewage treatment plant (STP) at Aundh has received approval from Mahatma Phule Krishi Vidyapeeth (MPKV), Rahuri. The institute has agreed to de-reserve 0.33 hectares of land from the biodiversity heritage site to facilitate the project.

JICA is funding 11 STPs as part of a central government scheme; 10 are already under construction. The construction of the 11th STP at Aundh has also received approval. The Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) has sent a letter to the Nagpur-based Maharashtra Biodiversity Heritage Board, which will take the final call on granting the land to the PMC.

The proposed STP, located on a section of the 33-acre Botanical Garden in Aundh, remains on hold as the land, owned by the MPKV, was officially designated a biodiversity heritage site in a gazette notification issued on August 31, 2020.

JICA project

Under the JICA project, the PMC is constructing 11 new STPs in different parts of the city to reduce pollution in the Mula-Mutha river. The project will create an additional treatment capacity of 396 million litres per day (MLD) over and above the existing treatment capacity of 477 MLD, and will result in the laying of 55 km of sewer lines and the renovation/rehabilitation of four existing intermediate pumping stations. Once the project is completed by 2025, the total STP capacity available in Pune will be 988.50 MLD, which will be sufficient to cater to the sewage generation for the year 2027.