TWO sewage treatment plant (STP) projects being implemented by Bahrain’s Ministry of Works will have private sector involvement for the first time in the sanitary engineering field.

Private companies will build a greenfield STP at Muharraq, northeast of Bahrain, and expand and upgrade Bahrain’s largest STP at Tubli in the east of the kingdom.
They will entail a public-private participation with a sharing of investment and risks between the two sides.
As well as the privatisation policy, the ministry is implementing a National Masterplan for sanitary engineering services as part of Bahrain’s Vision 2030.
The plan is aimed at reviewing the sector’s immediate and future needs, optimising processes and efficiencies and maximising TSE (treated sewage effluent) production and reuse.
It will also assess environmental and quality compliances, optimise operations and maintenance services, reduce infiltration and restructure the organisation. The ministry aims to conserve water by employing advanced recycling processes to recover the bulk of reusable water from wastewater to meet water demands.
The new Muharraq plant will have a daily capacity of 100,000 to 160,000 cu m along with a 15-km-long deep gravity sewer conveyance system where micro-tunnelling will be employed for the first time in the sanitary infrastructure.
The Muharraq project has been tendered and is expected to be completed in 2013.
In the Tubli expansion and upgradation project, daily capacity will rise from 200,000 to 350,000 cu m while substantial lengths of deep gravity sewers will be developed employing micro-tunnelling in various catchment areas of Manama. The project will be tendered during this year and work is expected to be completed in 2013-14.
“By implementing these two strategic projects, the private sector will be responsible for processing approximately 90 per cent of the flows of wastewater in the kingdom,” said Zubaida Alhashimi, director of planning and projects at the sanitary engineering directorate.
The company undertaking the Tubli project will work using new technology, she added. It will treat the incoming flow and produce TSE and sludge to the latest stringent quality and environmental standards specified for the Muharraq STP.
The current TSE standards established for Muharraq STP are meant for unrestricted re-use of the effluent for agriculture and discharge to the sea in sensitive areas. This should lead to substantial quality improvement at Tubli STP when it is privatised, said Alhashimi.
The project company is required to relocate the existing tanker discharge facility to another designated area where it will develop a small treatment plant to receive and treat the tanker waste discharge.
“Achieving the lowest treatment cost (LTC) and best-quality TSE and sludge management, including environmental compliance for a pre-determined plant capacity, will be our main objectives for privatising the Tubli STP,” said Alhashimi.