The Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) has signed an agreement with the International Finance Corporation (IFC) under which the civic body will borrow a loan to build more Sewage Treatment Plants (STPs) in the city. On behalf of the PMC, municipal commissioner Vikram Kumar signed an agreement with the IFC authorities on Friday.
On the occasion, Kumar said, “IFC would do a detailed study of the project and suggest how to borrow long term loan and what should be the interest rate for the same. PMC will accordingly plan to use these funds to establish new STP facilities.”
Recently 34 villages were merged into PMC limits and these areas did not have proper sewage management systems in place. Now, to cater facilities to these villages, the civic body plans to build the STPs, and the agreement will see the IFC act as an advisor for the ₹1000 crore project. Under the agreement, the IFC will survey sites across the city and will guide PMC to initiate the long-term project.
In a similar vein, recently, the Maharashtra government signed an agreement with IFC for carrying out capital and long-term projects.
Meanwhile, for old city areas, the PMC has already received funding from Japan International Corporation Agency (JICA) to carry out a river rejuvenation programme, under which the civic body is installing STPs for Peth areas.