Use of sewage water by power generation companies will require Rs 32,000 crore investment: Arun Lakhani

VIL CMD Arun Lakhani

Government’s directive to use recycled sewage water by power plants will call for an investment of up to Rs 32,000 crore to meet the requirement of 80 GW capacities of state and central utilities.

“The use of sewage water by central and state power generation companies will alone require an investment of up to Rs 32,000 crore depending upon the distance between sewage treatment plant and the power plant,” Vishvaraj Infrastructure Chairman and Managing Director Arun Lakhani said.
Government’s directive will not be legally binding and it depends on state regulators to implement it. But even if central and state generators with aggregate capacity of 80,000 MW follow this directive, they would be requiring supply of 8,000 million litres treated water per day.

In January this year, government unveiled a tariff policy, which provides that thermal power plants including the existing plants located within 50 km radius of sewage treatment plant of municipality/local bodies shall mandatorily use treated sewage water produced by these bodies.

Also, the associated cost on this account should be allowed as a pass through in the tariff.
Arun Lakhani said use of 8,000 million litres of treated water will result in drinking water for 16 crore people every day and help the country deal with prevailing drought-like situation in many states today.

“Our arm Vishvaraj Environment has planned to create a capacity to supply 3,000 litres of treated sewage water to power plants in the next five years, which will require an investment of about Rs 10,000 crore, ” he said.

Recently, NTPC has decided to use sewage water treated by Nagpur Municipal Corporation’s (NMC) sewage treatment plant (STP) at Bhandewadi for its Mouda plant. The plant is operating two 500 MW units using Gosikhurd water.

NMC is building a 200 million litre per day (MLD) capacity STP at Bhandewadi.

“We will be supplying 150 MLD to NTPC Mouda plant while we are looking for buyers for remaining 50 MLD supplies. It is the first PPP plant in the country as all other plants are owned by local bodies or state governments,” he said.
Other industries require additional 20,000 MLD supplies, which is also a big business opportunity for this segment, he added.

This New is Originally Posted on NAGPUR TODAY

The Value of Thirst

As the country grapples with poor water management, polluted water bodies, shortage of drinking water and water-borne diseases, businesses and entrepreneurs are coming up with unique solutions to quench the thirst of the people. Business Today profiles a few promising initiatives that could prove to be game-changers.

VISHVARAJ INFRASTRUCTURE

 

Nagpur was no different from the rest of India when it came to water mismanagement. "These inefficiencies clubbed with low tariff made the urban water distribution unsustainable," says Arun Lakhani, Chairman, Vishvaraj Infrastructure. So, when Nagpur Municipal Corporation issued tenders for 24x7 water supply in the city and another project at Bhandewadi for water reuse, Lakhani bid for both projects. For the Rs 550-crore 24x7 water supply project the company is supposed to provide continuous water supply to every household, improve the technical and commercial efficiency of the system, lay 2,100 km of pipelines, set up a water treatment facility and storage reservoirs, apart from providing 325,000 new house service connections. It is also responsible for metering, billing and collection of charges. "We carried out our hydraulic modelling of the city and, now, all households in Nagpur are getting at least three to four hours of daily water supply."

PIRAMALSARVAJAL

 In a country where 125 million people do not have access to drinking water, Sarvajal's ATMs cater to 300,000 people every day at 30 paisa per litre of potable water. Since its launch in 2009, the company has installed over 180 water units across 13 states. "All one has to do is swipe the prepaid card and key in the amount required, and the machine dispenses the water. The Sarvajal server keeps a record of user transactions and deducts the amount used on the card," says Vasu Padmanabhan, CEO, Piramal Sarvajal. The company has got into partnerships with local entrepreneurs, panchayats and community-based organisations to run the water treatment plants. "Local community members are selected and trained to manage the purification units. The projects are also monitored remotely on a daily basis to ensure production and purity, and understand the consumption pattern for remedial action," he adds. The ATM units cost Rs 5 lakh to Rs 10 lakh, and the local partners can also earn up to Rs 35,000 per month. The plant works on reverse osmosis and UV-based filtration technology.

WATERLIFE INDIA 

Sudesh Menon, who was tipped to take over as the South East Asia head of GE, quit the company to later launch Waterlife India in partnership with two former colleagues - Mohan Ranbaore and Indranil Das - in 2009. So far, the Hyderabad-based company has installed over 4,000 water purification plants to quench the thirst of over 12 million people across 15 states. Waterlife focuses on community water systems in villages and urban slums, and works in collaboration with governments, local bodies and corporate houses. Menon says that sustainability is key while providing high quality water over the long-term (five to 15 years), compared to systems that go defunct after the first year "due to poor maintenance or apathy". A Waterlife team first visits the village to map its drinking water requirements, analyses the viability and tests sources of water for contamination. Based on the findings, a customised plant is built. It costs anything between Rs 5 lakh and Rs 25 lakh. Operators are hired to operate and maintain the plant after rigorous training. "We expect to maintain revenue growth of 30-40 per cent per annum over the next five years," says Menon, adding that the World Bank's recognition of Waterlife as one of the pioneers in the provision of safe water in the bottom-of-the-pyramid market was a rewarding experience.

KENT RO

When Mahesh Gupta failed to get a quality water purifier for his children diagnosed with jaundice, he decided to make one himself. "Purifiers primarily work on the Ultra Violet principle, wherein the water passes through UV rays and the bacteria are killed in the process. For me, that was not enough because industrial activity has resulted in contaminated ground water, and impurities such as arsenic, rust, pesticides and fluorides," says Gupta, Chairman, KENT RO Systems. After several trials, he zeroed in on the reverse osmosis (RO) technology and the first KENT purifier was launched in March 1999 from his garage in South Delhi. In the first year he sold around 100 units for Rs 20,000 a piece, compared to the Rs 5,000 price tag of other available water purifiers in the market. Gupta claims, KENT RO now enjoys 40 per cent share of the RO market and is looking at Rs 1,000-crore turnover in 2016/17.

This New is Originally Posted on BusinessToday

Vishvaraj Infrastructure’s Arun Lakhani bags 2 prestigious awards at World Water Leadership Congress

Nagpur/Mumbai: Vishvaraj Infrastructure Ltd, which is heading Orange City Waters – Nagpur’s core Water Supply Manager, has managed to bring some moments of proud to the city. In the recently held World Water Leadership Congress and Awards in Mumbai, the company headed by Arun Lakhani has managed to make the cut with two prestigious awards.

While Arun Lakhani, Chairman and Managing Director, Vishvaraj Infrastructure Ltd has been individually honoured with World Water Leadership Awards for his Outstanding Contribution towards Water, his company Vishvaraj Infrastructure bagged the award for Best Water Reuse Project.

Overwhelmed with the double honor, Arun Lakhani shared his warm greetings with Nagpur Today.

Talking to the e-newspaper, Lakhani congratulated his team saying, “This award is the recognition of my team’s hard work which put in their efforts. Its never a one person, its a team work – Satyajeet, Suresh and all of them. My congratulations to them.”

This New is Originally Posted on Nagpur Today

Arun Lakhani - A sportsman at heart and a business leader by mind

Often have we witnessed great athletes evolve in to brilliant business leaders .Jeffrey Immelt, CEO at GE played football for Dartmouth’s Ivy League squad, IBM’s CEO Samuel Palmisano was a star player on the Johns Hopkins football team and Meg Whitman, the CEO of Hewlett-Packard was the captain of her school’s swim team, played tennis, basketball and was part of Princeton’s squash and lacrosse teams.

The co-relation between sportsmanship, the competitive edge that athletics develop and the qualities of a top-notch business person has not been lost on the business world. With this in mind, it makes sense that the Managing Director of one of India’s largest infrastructure development companies, Mr. Arun Lakhani has made it his mission to promote, support and spearhead efforts towards making sports more accessible. Specifically, Badminton has been his choice of game and the state of Maharashtra his playground.

In October, 2015, Mr. Lakhani was unanimously appointed as the new president of the Maharashtra Badminton Association, taking over from Pradeep Gandhe who was captaining the organisation for a decade.

“My experience across the years with the Executive Committee and Planning Committee have given me a deep understanding of what is required of me and have also shaped my ambitions for creating better infrastructure for Badminton within Maharashtra,”,said Mr. Lakhani.

The MBA aims to bridge the gap between Indian Badminton standards and those that are upheld internationally. With more talented players entering the arena each year, there is a great need for well-equipped facilities, academies and trainers. Mr. Lakhani, also a visionary in the Public Private Partnership sector has headed several enormous projects for Vishvaraj Infrastructure Ltd., alongside the government. With his skills and experience at managing complex projects and accomplishing large scale developments, the MBA is confident of their choice

“The MBA has managed to spread the game to all corners of the state. Around 24 districts are active, which is a very positive sign for badminton. Still, we lack in providing facilities to the talented players. We don’t have enough infrastructures to accommodate more players. My focus will be on to develop the facilities and infrastructure,” said the new president while addressing a meet-the-press programmer, organized by the Sports Journalists’ Association of Nagpur.

Mr. Lakhani’s first and foremost priority will be retain players who choose to leave Maharashtra and train in other states such Hyderabad and Bangalore which offer them better opportunities. One of the first milestones would be to set up a world-class academy in Maharashtra. It’s already clear that the goals being set by the Maharashtra Badminton Association are not simply those of an organization but of an avid lover of the sport itself.

While speaking to Nagpur Today, Mr. Lakhani said, “I am not new to Badminton as a sportsman. In my college days, I held the racquet regularly and displayed my skills on the court. But now-a-days due to busy schedule at office and other activities of vital nature, the racquet has now been passed to my son. My son is now honing his skills at the court and I am enjoying his services and powerful shots from the bench as a dutiful parent.”

There will, however, be challenges along the way. The previous president Mr. Gandhe attempted at acquiring land for a long time and now this responsibility will lay in the hands of Mr.Lakhani. His dreams of turning Maharashtra in to a national Badminton hub greatly depend on his ties with the government.

In the short term, the MBA hopes to improve existing badminton complexes and encouraging more potential champions to join the sport. Problem solving at a district level is being approached with a pre-defined agenda and systems are being put in to place to ensure better communications.

It will be interesting to observe how a Badminton enthusiast and focused businessman such as Mr. Lakhani changes the face of the sport in Maharashtra as well as India.