PPP model for waste water gets nod

Giving a fresh fillip to its ambitious Namami Gange programme, the Central government on Wednesday cleared the proposal for setting up a hybrid annuity-based public private partnership (PPP) model to develop markets for treated waste water.

The Union Cabinet meeting, presided over by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, also approved the transfer of land from Farakka Barrage Project to the Inland Waterways Authority of India (IWAI) for construction of navigational lock parallel to the one at Farakka. It also okayed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between India and Bangladesh to set up border haats. “Keeping in view the specialised nature of this model and to scale it up in future on sustainable basis, the government is establishing a special purpose vehicle (SPV) to plan, structure, procure concessionaires, monitor implementation of such PPP projects and develop market for treated waste water through appropriate policy advocacy under overall guidance of National Mission for Clean Ganga,” an official statement said.

The proposed SPV will be established under Companies Act, 2013 for providing required governance framework and enabling functional autonomy. It would enter into a tripartite memorandum of agreement (MoA) with participating state governments and concerned urban local bodies for taking up individual projects.

These MoAs will aim at introducing reforms and regulatory measures for recovery of user charges on ‘polluters pay’ principle, restrictions on usage of ground and fresh water for non-potable purposes through stricter monitoring and guidelines that promote re use of treated wastewater.

The water resources ministry, in a first, has already entered into an MoU with the Railways for purchase of treated water from sewage treatment plants wherever feasible. Similar MoUs are also being worked out with Power, Petroleum and Industries ministries, the statement said.