More areas in the city will come under underground drainage (UGD) network, with the Greater Visakhapatnam Municipal Corporation (GVMC) putting forth a proposal of supplying tertiary treated water to industries on a large scale.

The UGD network and waste water treatment plant projects are being undertaken as part of the  Smart City  initiatives in two packages for which Andhra Pradesh Urban Infrastructure Asset Management Limited (APUIAML) has been appointed as the project management consultant to provide end-to-end solutions.

In all, the proposals envisage covering around 60,000 households in the city through a pipeline network of 655 km.

In the first package, sewage system will be set up at the estimated expenditure of ₹ 412 crore in Pendurthi area comprising Wards 70 and 71 and a part of 72nd ward, official sources say. It is leant that around 15,000 households will be covered by laying a pipeline network in a stretch of 226 km.

The project envisages supplying 46 million litres per day (MLD) of water to industries, after secondary and tertiary treatment.

Around 54 MLD of the existing full capacity of 108 MLD sewage treatment plant (STP) at Narava will be utilised for the purpose. The tenders for the work have been awarded to the Tata Projects Limited and the GVMC will meet the cost of the UGD component by the raising its resources to ₹150 crore.

In the second package of the project, sewage network will be set up for wards 47, 48, 49, 51, 59, 60, 61, 62, 63, 64 and some parts of wards 46, 50, 52 and 65.

Covering 45,000 households at Gajuwaka and Malkapuram, the network will be built in a stretch of 429 km.

Second package

Sources say that administrative approvals have already been accorded to the ₹530-crore project and the Detailed Project Report (DPR) is ready.  Tenders will be called for after the proposal gets a technical approval from the government,  they say.

The remaining 54 MLD capacity of the Narava STP, which was built as part of the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM), will be put to use for secondary and tertiary treatment of 33 MLD water for industrial use.

The officials say that more water will be available to cater to the growing domestic needs of the city, once the two packages materialise.