Water, Waste Water Reuse and Transport by Vishvaraj Infrastructure Limited

Water: The rapidly urbanizing Indian population is expected to reach a figure close to 600 million urban people by 2031. This massive transition is creating serious challenges for urban planners and ULBs, especially which of ensuring quality water supply to these citizens. Indian cities have for long lived with intermittent water supply systems riddled with a variety of problems ranging from high levels of NRW to contamination issues. As a solution to this situation several reforms have been initiated by the government which include introduction of performance linked PPP contracts, up gradation of existing ageing assets, 100% metering and efficient operation and maintenance of the supply system.  Water companies globally are developing technologies and management systems to deal with these challenges. VIL however understands that the Indian context is different and it needs solutions which are local, competitive and socially acceptable. We develop implementation strategies keeping local situation in perspective as water is a very sensitive subject in our country. For us, driving innovations, creating sustainability, technological advancements, environmental friendliness and people’s involvement are the key drivers for the company in this sector.

Waste Water Reuse:  In contrast the demand for fresh water is growing rapidly, estimated to go from 813 BCM today to 1,447 BCM by 2050, whereas the resource base remains constrained at 1,122 BCM. The industrial sector, which is one of the major users of fresh water, mostly puts fresh water to non-potable. Wastewater treated up to secondary level can easily be utilized for this purpose freeing up massive amounts of freshwater for domestic consumers. This can easily be achieved by improving the municipal wastewater collection, treatment and reuse thus not only recycling wastewater which is otherwise lost but also save the downstream water bodies from pollution. This is the win-win proposition of VIL’s model for the all the stakeholders, a unique example of creating value from waste whilst contributing positively to environmental sustainability.

Transport: Roads, the predominant mode of transportation in India carry almost 80 percent of the country’s passenger traffic and 65 percent of its freight. With a density of 0.66 km of highway per square kilometer of land India’s highway network is similar to that of the United States (0.65) and much greater than China’s (0.16) or Brazil’s (0.20). India boasts of 3.3 million Kms of highways, with 80,000 Kms of National highways and 1, 31,000 Kms of State highways. Indian roads experienced a 10.16% CAGR of growth of vehicles in the last five years.

VIL spotted this opportunity way back in 2000 and strategically decided to stay focused on BOT projects. It made a humble start with the development of 8.3 Km Bypass road on BOT basis, which was one of the first BOT concessions awarded at that time. Those were tough times for the industry with stiff resistance from key stakeholders i.e. the commuters for paying toll for using the road. However, the concept matured well over time and VIL completed 4 projects well within stipulated construction time, the concession period for these range from 15 to 30 years.

Technology and Infrastructure by Arun Lakhani

The Chairman & Managing Director of Vishvaraj Infrastructure Limited (VIL) Mr. Arun Lakhani says investing in expertise is just a stepping stones to developed and modern India. At Vishvaraj Infra (VIL India) we consider in creating value for every stakeholders by removing carefulessness. We consider ourselves as social entrepreneurs since Water, Waste Water and Transport; the sectors in which we have built our standing are closely interwoven with the lives of people. As business, apart from value creation for share holders they also impact happiness quotient of the people, thus offering enormous satisfaction to us for our life transforming work.

Here is what Mr. Arun Lakhani has to say the entire integrated water management project for Nagpur began with a simple idea that we want to have a continuous water supply sustaining Nagpur that means 24x7 water supply has to be provide to all the individual citizens. It was decided to improve the efficiency and bring in the new technology, a private sector expertise & to ensure that equitable water distribution this entire concept of 24x7 water supplies or continuous water supply was brought in.

24x7 water supple project was conceptualized to convert the terms of water supply to a round the clock one by fair distribution. The project kicked off with replacement of leaking pipes and house service connection. The target of Nagpur of 24x7 water supply project is to replace 600 kilometers of pipelines in the city and provide 3, 25,000 house service connections. It also aims to provide services like metering, billing, collection and customer service 3, 25,000 consumers. The project aims to undertake the operation and maintenance of water treatment plant to the capacity of 725 million liters per day. Decking up the 24x7 water supply project provided modern technology for treatment of water that in turn helped renovate the entire water network.

In addition to infrastructural and operational improvement technology was also introduced for monitoring and controlling the water flow. The use of SCADA system or supervisory control and data acquisition to monitor the entire urban water distribution system at one place made monitoring of the treatment plants extremely quick.

See Nagpur city is increasing and it is growing like anything. For a growing city most professional way of management is required for all the sectors. We have put GIS system, SCADA system lot of modern technological system which we can monitor the total city by sitting at a single point.

If on one hand modern technology made it easy to monitor Orange City Water it also helped the company become more accessible to the citizens. Orange City Water now has a dedicated call center to address customer grievances. The option of online billing has made transactions more convenient for customers. Orange City Waters is also to launch its mobile application in the near future.