The Bahrain Ministry of Works will be spending a whopping BD1.5 billion on sanitary sector until 2030 mainly on the construction of treatment plants, transfer networks, internal networks and for their operation and maintenance, said a top official.

The Kingdom has already invested more than BD460 million ($1.21 billion) into sanitary sector for project development, operation, and maintenance starting from the early eighties until 2012, revealed Khalifa Al Mansoor, the sanitary engineering assistant undersecretary at the Ministry of Works at a press conference in the presence of Sanitary Engineering Planning & Projects director Asma Jassim Murad and Sanitary Engineering operation & maintenance director Ebrahim Al Hawaj.

“The ministry had constructed a number of sewage treatment plants, the most important of which is Tubli STP. This is the main plant that uses tertiary treatment, which is suitable for irrigation uses. It is presently undergoing upgrade works; until it is expanded by the Gulf Support Program (The Gulf Marshal.),” said Al Mansoor.

“A number of other plants have also been constructed, such as Sitra STP, and Al Maameer Industrial Plant, in addition to other small plants,” said the offical of the sanitary engineering sector which is responsible for the sanitary system (which consists of treatment plants, transfer networks and collection networks).

The sector is also responsible for treated water networks and storm-water drainage networks.

"In the past 3 decades, the ministry developed sanitary services in Bahrain through the implementation of a number of important projects that contributed to improving and expanding sanitary services throughout the Kingdom," stated Al Mansoor.

"We succeeded in connecting around 95 per cent of Bahrain’s population to sanitary services in 2013, which is a high percentage compared to advanced countries. By 2020, the percentage will increase to 100 per cent according to our master plan," he added.

According to him, the ministry is working towards implementing a number of strategic projects, the most important of which is Muharraq STP, which is to be implemented by the private sector for the first time.

The plant will serve Muharraq’s residents and cover sanitary needs in the area. Tubli STP will also be expanded to reach a capacity of 400,000 cu m. This approach will also decentralize the sanitary system.

"The ministry is also about to embark on implementing a number of infrastructure projects using the state-of-the-art Tunneling Techniques, and implementing sewage treatment plants in a number of areas," he added.

Plans are afoot for the construction of a 126km sewerage network that operate based on the principal of gravity, said Al Mansoor.

"This is in alignment with a recommendation in the National Development Plan for the Sanitary Sector to decrease the number of pumping stations to the minimum and adopting new techniques for construction such as tunneling technology," he explained.

"In 2012, Bahrain’s population reached 1.240.000 million, and it is expected that it  will reach 2.5 million in 2030, which means that sewerage flow will exceed 100 per cent in comparison to the present,’ he added.

Al Hawaj said the ministry aspires to treat sewage water in high quality facilities in order to achieve national and international quality standards, including those of the WHO. "This is to constantly make sure that water resources such as groundwater and seawater are protected from sewage waste pollution, and also to produce treated sewage water that can be used for various purposes," he stated.

During the past 5 years, the cost of stormwater drainage projects has exceeded BD19 million, revealed Al Hawaj.

"As for future investments and present temporary solutions, it is expected that the cost for such projects will exceed BD2 million in the next 5 years," he noted.

Asma Murad said regarding the Ministry of Works’ approach in relation to stormwater drainage systems, which stipulates that properties must be protected from floods and that infrastructure services must operate properly during rain storms, the Ministry is working on discharging such waters in coastal areas; directly into the sea.

"With regards to internal areas, the Ministry is preparing a feasibility study that targets the collection of these waters, re-using it or discharging it to the sea, she added.-TradeArabia News Service