Delhi to award contracts for 16 new sewage plants by July to clean Yamuna

The Delhi government plans to award contracts for the construction of 16 more decentralised sewage treatment plants (DSTPs) by July, as part of its ongoing efforts to clean the Yamuna river and enhance the city's sewage treatment capacity, an official confirmed.

DSTPs are considered essential for curbing pollution in the Yamuna, as they are designed to treat sewage from unauthorised colonies that currently discharge waste directly into the river due to the lack of proper sewer networks. Work on 13 DSTPs was already awarded following a tender process in May. With the addition of the 16 new plants, the total treatment capacity of all DSTPs is expected to reach 170 million gallons per day (MGD).

“The tender for the 16 DSTPs has already been floated, and the process is under way to award the work to selected private companies by July,” the official said this week. The project forms a key component of the government’s broader plan to rejuvenate the Yamuna.

In July last year, Union Home Minister Amit Shah chaired a meeting on the river’s revival and directed the Delhi government to nearly double its sewage treatment capacity to 1,500 MGD by 2028. The DSTP project had been stalled for years, with the non-availability of land emerging as a major obstacle.

Political tensions between the previous Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government in Delhi and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led central government further complicated the issue, as much of the required land is under the control of the Centre.

Through DSTPs, the government plans to treat sewage close to the source of generation. Currently, Delhi’s 37 larger sewage treatment plants (STPs) are located in distant parts of the city, requiring sewage to be transported through extensive networks. DSTPs, in contrast, will be built on smaller plots of land and linked to clusters of nearby unauthorised colonies, reducing the need for long-distance transport.

The AAP government had initiated plans to build DSTPs in 2015, but the project failed to take off for several reasons, including land unavailability. The number of planned DSTPs was later reduced from 48 to 40 during the AAP’s tenure, and from 34 to 29 after the BJP came to power last year.

“The number of DSTPs has been reduced to 29, but they will cover the same areas planned earlier because their capacities have been increased,” the official said. The government aims to complete all 29 DSTPs by January 2028, and the associated sewer networks by June 2028.