Singapore builds centralised effluent treatment plant in Dhaka

Dhaka now has its first centralised effluent treatment plant. The facility uses technology provided by Singaporean company Flagship Ecosystems Investment Private Limited (FESI).

FESI and its Bangladeshi partner built the S$10 million plant (US$7.87 million) for the Bangladesh Export Processing Zone Authority (BEPZA) on a 30-year build-own-operate service agreement. It was commissioned in February 2012.

(photo credit: Flagship Ecosystems)

Effluents from industries in the Savar DEPZ (Dhaka Economic Processing Zone) will be channelled to the treatment plant at an approved service tariff rate and with guaranteed effluent volumes. It receives about 15,000 cu m per day of effluent from 44 companies in the Old Zone of Savar DEPZ. However, it plans to increase its capacity to 43,000 cu m per day by 2013 to service 55 companies in the New Zone of Savar DEPZ. The industrial runoff is treated to meet Department of Environment regulations before being discharged into the inland waterway.

The plant uses an innovative bio-electric process to treat the co-mingled industrial wastewater stream, the first of its kind in Bangladesh and the world.