India’s first HAM project in sewerage sector

News:India’s first Hybrid annuity model(HAM) in sewerage sector,a Sewage Treatment Plant (STP) was inaugurated in Sarai,Haridwar.

Facts:

About the Sarai Sewage Plant Project:

• The Plant is based on advanced aerobic biological process Sequential Batch Reactor(SBR) process.
• The project has been built under the Namami Gange project of National Mission for Clean Ganga(NMCG).
• The project is capable of removing the nutrients during treatment and is a 100% eco-friendly project.It will meet the highest standards of output parameters.
• The plant will be maintained and operated for a period of 15 years by the same developer for efficient performance and for meeting output parameters.
• It will bring substantial improvement in the quality of water of the river Ganga in Uttarakhand.

Additional information:

About Sequential Batch Reactor(SBR):

• Sequencing batch reactors(SBR) or sequential batch reactors are a type of activated sludge process for the treatment of wastewater. 
• The reactor treat wastewater such as sewage or output from anaerobic digesters or mechanical biological treatment facilities in batches. 
• Oxygen is bubbled through the mixture of wastewater and activated sludge to reduce the organic matter measured as biochemical oxygen demand (BOD) and chemical oxygen demand(COD). 
• The treated effluent may be suitable for discharge to surface waters or possibly for use on land.

About National Mission for Clean Ganga (NMCG)

• It has been established as an Authority under National Council for River Ganga (Rejuvenation, Protection and Management) Act, 2016.
• It is the implementing agency of the Namami Gange Programme at the national level.

About Namami Gange programme:

• The Namami Gange was launched in 2015.It is an Integrated Conservation Mission which seeks effective abatement of pollution, conservation and rejuvenation of River Ganga.
• The main pillars of Namami Gange Programme are (a) Sewerage Treatment Infrastructure, (b) River-Surface Cleaning, (c) Afforestation,  (d) Industrial Effluent Monitoring, (e) River-Front Development, (f) Biodiversity, (g) Ganga Gram and (h) Public Awareness.

About Hybrid Annuity model(HAM):

• Hybrid annuity model is a combination of Engineering, Procurement and Construction(EPC) and Build,Operate,Transfer(BOT) models.
• Under the EPC model,the government pays private players to lay roads.The private player has no role in the road’s ownership,toll collection or maintenance.
• Under the BOT model,private players have an active role.They build, operate and maintain the road for a specified number of years, before transferring the asset back to the government.The toll revenue collection arrangement is known as BOT-Annuity.
• Under the Hybrid annuity model,the government will provide 40% of the project cost to the developer to start work while the remaining 60% of the investment has to be made by the developer.

Advantages of Hybrid Annuity model:

• Private player has to arrange for only 60% of project cost.The exposure and risk reduces for the private player.
• Government will also benefits as it gets an opportunity to flag off projects by investing a portion of the project cost.
• All regulatory clearances risk, compensation risk and traffic risk is borne by government.Hence,private player will have minimal risk.