Yangon upgrades wastewater treatment systems
YANGON - Myanmar’s largest city of Yangon is embarking on a plan to upgrade the city’s sewage treatment system with support from foreign countries.
The city received financial and technical assistance from Germany and Japan while it negotiated with other countries for support, said Yangon Mayor Maung Maung Soe, who is also the chairman of the Yangon City Development Committee (YCDC).
"We have been implementing a lot of projects for the welfare of our city in consultation with economists and local and foreign experts. We have been focusing on building new housing, the renovation of roads and bridges, environmental cleanliness, the modernisation of parks and gardens, and upgrading drainage system, water and sanitation," Maung Maung Soe said last week.
Since January 2015, the YCDC has worked with Germany's Breman Oversea Research and Development Association on a decentralised wastewater treatment system project, he said. The first system was installed at a high school in Tamwe township, serving 850 teachers and students.
Japan played a crucial role in upgrading the system and several Japanese firms were eager to supply the city with new technology, he said.
Some state-owned housing properties are now equipped with membrane bio-reactor systems donated by Japan's Mitsubishi Rayon and the Myanmar Water Engineering Product.
In January 2013, the Japanese firm Kubota Corporation and the Myanmar-based Wa Min Co started importing water treatment equipment known as Johkasou, which is utilised at many high-rise buildings in the city.
U Than, joint secretary of the YCDC, said the committee was considering expanding the use of Johkasou tanks because they required a small area for installation and were easy to maintain.
The Japan International Cooper-ation Agency (JICA) recently delivered to the YCDC tanks that were installed at two famous Yangon parks, Mahabandoola and U Ottama, with the daily capacity of treating 50 to 80 cubic metres of water.
With JICA support, another wastewater treatment project is planned to run from December to March involving the installation of more tanks and intensive training on operation and maintenance techniques.
Despite foreign assistance, modernised sewage management systems extended to only 5 per cent of Yangon's population, said Thein Min, deputy head of the YCDC's engineering (water & sanitation) department. According to a master plan designed by the JICA, the capacity could be expanded to cover at least half of the population by 2040.
Yangon houses a sewage treatment facility, the only one existing in Myanmar. The city plans to build six more facilities to cover such townships as Sanchaung, Kyee Min Daing, Tamwe, Mingala Taung Nyunt, Mayangone, Thaketa, and Bahan.
Thein Min said that the locations have been selected but the construction plan depends largely on budgets and the government’s instructions.
There are also waste-water treatment systems in six downtown townships_ Kyauktada, Lanmadaw, Latha, Pazuntaung, Botahtaung, and Pebedan. But they were old, some constructed decades ago.
