EU thumbs up to Pune firm's effective management plan

Arun Lakhani, CMD, Vishvaraj Infrastructure Ltd

PUNE: A city-based organisation's water management plan is among the four projects selected by the Centre and the European Union (EU) for study and implementation.

The city recently hosted a three-day international conference on 'Water Management & Waste Water Treatment'. The participants deliberated on acute water shortage and water management issues and delved on workable technologies for sewage treatment. The conference was arranged by the National Environmental Engineering Research Institute (NEERI) of the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), Ecosan, and supported by the Department of Science and Technology (DST), Government of India, and the EU.

City-based EcoSan Services Foundation's water management plan, 'NaWaTech', is one of the four projects selected. The project was showcased at Yashada last week.

The projects that were showcased at the conference were selected under the framework of the India-European Union Science & Technology research and innovation project in water technology and management.

"With more people migrating to cities, water resources are dwindling. It has become mandatory to go for waste water treatment. We have to look at shifting from the conventional approach," said Girish Bapat, the city's guardian minister.

"India pumps out almost 80% sewage of the total water supplied. We can treat 60% of this. This water can be used for construction, gardening, etc," said Arun Lakhani, managing director of Vishvaraj Infrastructure, India, which has implemented the 24x7 water scheme in Nagpur using a public private partnership model.

The four projects NaWaTech, Eco India, Swings and Saraswati focus on various water treatment and management technologies developed and implemented by research institutes. The projects are jointly funded by DST-GOI and the European Commission. They were selected on the basis of minimum maintenance, low energy consumption, large scope to scale up and cost effectiveness.

"For the projects, Rs 16mn funding has been provided by DST and EU. Both Indian and European consortiums will work on these projects to assess and enhance the potential of natural and technical water treatment systems to suit local conditions," said Arvind Kumar, scientist-E of the International Multilateral and Regional Cooperation department, in DST-GOI.

NaWaTech is a three-year collaborative project. It works under a consortium of seven European organizations and seven Indian members, which includes the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC). "NaWaTech is based on optimized use of surface water supply, rain water, storm water as well as grey water," said DB Panse, director Ecosan Services Foundation.

Mangesh Dighe, head of environment cell of PMC, said, "One system has been installed at the Maharashtra Jeevan Pradhikaran office in Pune. The water will supplied to Indradhanushya centre, Sachin Tendulkar Park and a public toilet near Ambil odha."

This News is Originally Posted on TIME OF INDIA

Pune firm’s water management plan gets a thumbs up

Arun Lakhani, CMD, Vishvaraj Infrastructure Ltd

Pune: A city-based organisation's water management plan is among the four projects selected by the Centre and the European Union (EU) for study and implementation.

The city is hosting a three-day international conference on 'Water Management & Waste Water Treatment' will address acute water shortage and water management issues and delve on workable technologies for sewage treatment. The conference is organized by the National Environmental Engineering Research Institute (NEERI) of the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), Ecosan, and supported by the Department of Science and Technology (DST), Government of India, and the EU.

City-based EcoSan Services Foundation's water management plan, 'NaWaTech', is one of the four projects selected by the Department of Science and Technology (DST), Government of India and EU. The project was showcased at Yashada on Thursday, the first day of the international conference.

The four projects that were showcased at the conference were selected under the framework of the India-European Union Science & Technology research and innovation project in water technology and management.

"With more people migrating to cities, water resources are dwindling. Hence, It has become mandatory to go for waste water treatment as the situation will only worsen. We have to look at shifting from the conventional approach. Research and innovation should be our constant endeavour," said Girish Bapat, the city's guardian minister of Pune.

"India pumps out almost 80% sewage out of the total water supplied. We can treat at least 60% of this. This water can be used for construction, gardening, etc," said Arun Lakhani, chairman and managing director of Vishvaraj Infrastructure, India, which has implemented the 24x7 water scheme in Nagpur using a public private partnership model.

The four projects showcased are NaWaTech, Eco India, Swings and Saraswati. They focus on various water treatment and management technologies developed and implemented by various research institutes. The projects are jointly funded by both DST-GOI and the European Commission. They were selected on the basis of minimum maintenance, low energy consumption, large scope to scale up and cost effectiveness.

"For the water-based projects, Rs 16mn funding has been provided jointly by DST and EU. Both the Indian and European consortiums will work jointly on these projects to assess and enhance the potential of natural and technical water treatment systems to suit local conditions," said Arvind Kumar, scientist-E of the International Multilateral and Regional Cooperation department, in DST-GOI.

NaWaTech, which stands for Natural Water Systems and Treatment Technologies, is a three-year collaborative project. It works under a consortium of seven European organizations and universities and seven Indian members, headed by NEERI which also includes the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC). "NaWaTech is based on optimized use of surface water supply, rain water, storm water as well as grey water," said DB Panse, director Ecosan Services Foundation.

As per Panse added, NaWaTech's largest project has been implemented at the College of Engineering Pune campus. The second site where NaWaTech has been implemented is the 400-acre towship, Amanora Park Town.

Mangesh Dighe, head of environment cell head of PMC, said, "One such system has been installed at the Maharashtra Jeevan Pradhikaran office in Pune. The water will supplied to the Indradhanushya centre, Sachin Tendulkar Park and a public toilet near Ambil odha." He also said that the PMC environment cell with the garden department will visit areas of the city to see which river, nullah and lake can be tapped for wastewater treatment project.

This News is Originally Posted on TIME OF INDIA

Vishvaraj plans Rs 6,000 cr investment in waste water projects

MUMBAI: Vishvaraj Infrastructure plans to invest around Rs 6,000 crore over the next five years to tap the growing market for waste water treatment and expand its footprint across the country.

It expects to garner around Rs 2,500 crore in revenue from this business, the company's Chairman and Managing Director Arun Lakhani said.

Vishvaraj Infrastructure, which started off with BOT road projects in Maharashtra, has diversified into integrated water supply, waste treatment and reuse segments.

"Around 38,250 MLD of wastewater is generated by tier-I and II cities, which is estimated to grow 3.5 times to 1,32,250 MLD by 2050.

"We see this as a huge market for sewage treatment and reuse for commercial purposes," Lakhani told PTI here.

On the revenue side, he said, "Though we will continue to look at road projects, our focus will be on water business now.

"In the next five years, with the current projects and addition of a few more, we can expect up to Rs 2,500 crore revenue from this segment," he said.

He added that the company is looking at entering Rajasthan, Karnataka, Haryana, West Bengal and Bihar to take up waste water treatment and water supply projects.

Vishvaraj is currently executing water supply projects in Nagpur in Maharashtra, and Magadi, Bidar and Basavakalyan in Karnataka.

It is also executing a USD 42-million sewage water treatment project in Nagpur.

The current waste water treatment capacity in the country is only around 30 percent of the total generation, but only 55 percent of this is operational.

"This translates to an investment gap of over USD 7 billion for tier I and II cities by next fiscal year alone. We want to be known as an urban utility and focus on waste water treatment and reuse," Lakhani said.

He said sewage water needs has to be looked at as a resource as it is ultimately water that can be used by industries after treatment.

"This is a win-win proposition to create value from waste whilst contributing positively to environmental sustainability," he said.

The company, which is operating four BOT road projects, is expecting a total revenue of Rs 500 crore in the next two years.

This New is Originally Posted on ECONOMIC TIME