Union Ministers M Venkaiah Naidu and Uma Bharti today jointly launched 'Smart Ganga City' programme in 10 cities located along Ganga to set up Sewage Treatment Plants (STPs) and improve drainage network there on hybrid annuity mode on public private partnership basis.

Union Urban Development Minister Naidu and Water Resources Minister Bharti launched the works through video conferencing and were joined in by District Magistrates/Mayors of cities/towns.

Haridwar, Rishikesh, Mathura, Varanasi, Kanpur, Allahabad, Lucknow, Patna, Sahibganj and Barrackpore are the cities/town where the programme will be implemented in the first phase.

Bharti also stated the government plans to form District-Level Mentoring committees in Ganga basin states - on the lines of High-Level Task Force chaired by Cabinet Secretary - to keep an eye on programme implementation.

"Earlier, STPs would become defunct within four-five years for reasons including non-maintenance. Now, with the hybrid annuity mode, we expect the STPs to remain operational for longer period even as water is recycled," Bharti said, while addressing the event from Ujjain.

In the hybrid annuity model, a part of capital investment (up to 40 percent) will be paid by government through construction linked milestones and the balance amount through an annuity over the contract duration up to 20 years to ensure longevity.

In previous schemes, Centre and states borne 70 per cent of the costs for setting up STPs. Now the programme will be completely Centre-sponsored, the Minister said.

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