Feature: China-funded sewage plant under BRI brings joy for Bangladeshis with clear waters

DHAKA, July 28 (Xinhua) -- "Our water is now clear again thanks to the Chinese project," said Abdus Samad, a 74-year-old Bangladeshi man, told Xinhua with smiling while sitting cross-legged on his boat.

Samad operates a sightseeing boat for the amusement and entertainment of the locals in a clear lake in Dasherkandi village on the southeast of Dhaka.

"A few years ago, things weren't like this," said Samad, adding that "In my early days, there was good water and we lived here as well as drinking water from the river. But as the towns around Dhaka grew bigger and more populous, the water got worse and worse. "

However, to Samad's astonishment, the water quality in his hometown has improved since last year, and he can now operate tour boats and raise fish in the river to earn money.

As the China-proposed Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) celebrates its 10th anniversary this year, people in Dhaka are enjoying the benefits of the China-funded sewage plant.

This shift is the result of the construction and operation of the Dasherkandi Sewage Treatment Plant (DSTP) under the BRI. It is a project financed by the Export-Import Bank of China and constructed and operated by PowerChina Chengdu Engineering Corporation Limited.

Dhaka, the capital and largest city of Bangladesh, has approximately 20 million residents and is rapidly growing, but domestic waste from the city is essentially dumped into the river directly.

In this regard, as a key project under the joint construction of the Belt and Road between China and Bangladesh, the DSTP project came into construction in 2017 in order to improve the local water environment and increase people's well-being.

In the project site, it can be seen how the foul-smelling domestic sewage entered the treatment tank and was processed through advanced techniques, including sedimentation, biochemical reaction treatment and ultraviolet disinfection. The reclaimed water then poured out of the drain outlet and flowed into the nearby river.

Noting that the project actively promotes the principles of low-carbon environmental protection and adaptation to local conditions, Ren Ruike, the project manager for the DSTP, said that the latest Chinese technology and standards were applied throughout the process, including the plant's construction, microbial primary cultivation and sludge incineration.

"As a result, the project has surpassed the contractual standards in terms of effluent water quality and emission indicators for sludge incineration purification," Ren stressed.

The completion of this project can provide sewage treatment services for approximately five million residents in the Dhaka city area, and the project has treated over 150 million tons of sewage since its operation in March 2022.

The DSTP project has become the first modern large-scale sewage treatment and sludge incineration plant in Bangladesh, as well as the largest monolithic sewage treatment plant in South Asia.

Standing on the river bank at the drain outlet of the project, Bangladeshi environmentalist Shuman Shams said that Dhaka's water supply has been a big problem for the nearly 20 million residents in the city. Nowadays, the local government and Chinese companies are working together to solve the crisis.

"Since this project started, we have seen that the treated water is released here in this canal, then the water is flowing through the canal to the local river," said the environmentalist, adding that people are bathing here, fishing here and using this water.

"By releasing clean water instead of unclean water, the biodiversity in this area has increased. We observe many kinds of birds flying here and many species of fish are located here," Shams emphasized, "We will get a beautiful environment for the city dwellers, and this development will be continuous. It will create a very beautiful environment for our future generations."

Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina publicly applauded this project in its implementation ceremony recently, saying that the implementation of the Sewerage Master Plan started with the construction of the DSTP project.

This sewage treatment plant will play a special role in improving and protecting the water quality of canals and rivers around Hatirjheel and Balu rivers, Hasina said, adding that the sewage of Dhaka and its related areas will be treated in this plant.