ISLAMABAD: The federal auditors in a report for 2016-17 have stated that millions of rupees were wasted on the sewage treatment plant (STP) of the capital city.

The audit report said the Capital Development Authority (CDA) had wasted the money on treating the sewage and discharging the ef fluent into Nullah Leh without ensuring the quality of the water as approved in the PC-1.

The main objective of the Rs2.72 billion project was to treat the municipal sewage emanating from Islamabad and discharging into Nullah Leh at a degree where it could be supporting the aquatic flora and fauna.

Its purpose was also to reduce significantly the microbiological contaminants discharged into the Nullah in order to reduce the occurrence of water-borne diseases in the downstream area.`Audit observed that neither the effluent was being discharged as per PC-1 approved standards of biochemical oxygen demand (BOD) nor the BOD lab test was being carried out regularly to ensure quality of water,` the report stated. The authenticity of the treated sewage and the discharge of the effluent into the nullah could not be ascertained. Thus, the expenditure incurred on account of the annual maintenance/operational charges amounting to millions of rupees was wastage of resources.

It said an expenditure of Rs42.377 million had incurred on the project during the year 2013-14.

`The matter was discussed in the Departmental Accounts Committee(DAC) meeting held in February 2016 wherein the CDA said the treatment plant was meeting the BOD standards as per the revised PC-I.

The DAC showed its concerns over the underutilisation of the STP and directed to get the test reports verified from the auditwithin 15 days. It was also directed to get the intake items required to increase the STP utilisation after a detailed survey of the sewage network connected to the STP.

But no progress was reported,` the report said.

The CDA established the STP in Sector I-9 at a cost of Rs2.72 billion but the f acility lost its utility due to a poor planning.

The plant was supposed to treat sewage from 25 sectors and supply the treated water to public parks, playgrounds, greenbelts and agricultural land. The remaining sewage, after being treated, was to be disposed of into Nullah Leh. But the plant could not receive the sewage because it had been set up without laying a sewer system.

Established under the Public Sector Development Programme (PSDP), the STP was inaugurated in 2009 by the then prime minister, Yousuf Raza Gilani. Earlier, a treatment plant had been set up at the site with just three filtration units that stopped working in the late 90s.In 2009, the CDA not only upgraded the older filtration units but also launched its mega Phase IV with new clarifiers and equipment to cater to the entire city.

The objective behind the establishment of the f acility was to treat 17 million gallon daily (mgd) sewage. However, after a few months of its inauguration, the plant started losing its utility due to the apathy of the CDA.

After the formation of the local government, the STP was devolved to the Metropolitan Corporation Islamabad (MCI). When contacted, Member Planning Asad Mehboob Kayani, who is also the acting chief metropolitan officer, acknowledged that the project was ill-planned and badly handled by the CDA.

`A recent inquiry fixed the responsibility. In coming days, we will take action against those responsible for poor handling of the STP,` he said and claimed that efforts would be made to make the plant functional as per its original design.