Sewage turns to money in Gujarat
Your time spent in the loo is no longer wasted and could soon be earning the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation (AMC) money.
Jaipur-based Rockstone Infrastructure will begin supplying commercial gas generated from sewage and human excrement from its Rs11cr ($1.73m) Pirana gas refining facility in Ahmedabad in the next three months. "Rockstone has completed 80% of construction and the plant will be ready by October," says an AMC source.
Built on a 4000-sq metre piece of land on a 15-year lease, the plant will process 8000 cm/d of gas generated from the Pirana Sewage Treatment Plant (STP) and convert it into 3500 cm/d commercial gas for use by local factories. If all goes well, AMC plans to set up six similar gas plants - three at Pirana and three at Vasna.
On each cubic metre sold, AMC's share of the selling price will be Rs9.18 ($0.14). Rockstone has a similar plant at Dhalawas in Jaipur where it supplies 2500kg/day of gas in caskets to factories at Rs45/kg ($0.71) to Rs50/kg ($0.78).