Govt to get Rs 2,500 crore ADB loan for water, sewage challenges

The Delhi Government will receive an Rs 2,500 crore loan from the Asian Development Bank (ADB) to address the Capital’s long-standing water supply and sewage challenges.

Addressing a press conference alongside Water Minister Parvesh Sahib Singh, the Chief Minister said the ADB loan, cleared through the Union Ministry of Finance, would fund two projects worth around Rs 1,741 crore to modernise water supply in the command area of the Wazirabad Water Treatment Plant. The Delhi Jal Board (DJB) has approved Package-1 worth Rs 805 crore and Package-2 worth Rs 935 crore for the initiative. ADB will fund 70 per cent of the projects, while the remaining 30 per cent will be funded by the Delhi Government.

The Wazirabad project will cover close to 44 square kilometres spanning nine underground reservoir command areas and eight Assembly constituencies. Residential pockets including Mukherjee Nagar, Model Town, Jahangirpuri, Azadpur, Keshavpuram, Pitampura, Shalimar Bagh, Tri Nagar, Paschim Vihar, Rani Bagh, Wazirpur and Ashok Vihar will benefit. The Government plans to lay 836 km of water distribution network, including nearly 570 km of new or replacement pipelines.

The plan involves creating 131 District Metered Areas to track water entering the system against what actually reaches consumers, making it easier to detect leaks and illegal connections. The Government has set a target of cutting non-revenue water losses to 15 per cent, with around 2.15 lakh household connections to be fully metered under the project.

Beyond Wazirabad, the Chief Minister announced a far larger Rs 11,427 crore transformation covering West and Southwest Delhi, expected to benefit around 36.4 lakh people by upgrading nearly 3,830 km of network. The project will be funded through the Urban Challenge Fund, with the Central Government and Delhi Government each contributing 25 per cent and the remaining half raised through loans or public-private partnership models.

The Chief Minister also detailed infrastructure upgrades planned for Shakur Basti and Okhla. An 18 MLD underground reservoir will come up in Harsh Vihar, Shakur Basti, while Okhla will get underground reservoirs of 2.2 MGD and 3.7 MGD capacity along with booster pumping stations in Batla House and Abul Fazal Enclave, benefiting roughly two lakh residents.

On sewerage, the Chief Minister said work worth Rs 2,990 crore had begun on 28 new decentralised sewage treatment plants, with orders already issued, alongside Rs 1,090 crore worth of upgrades to existing plants. Sewer network work has been completed in 114 unauthorised colonies at a cost of Rs 2,012 crore, providing household connections to 1,28,633 homes. Work is currently underway in 276 more colonies, with connections planned for over 5.44 lakh households across 647 unauthorised colonies.

The Chief Minister said water treatment plants of 50 MGD in Dwarka, 105 MGD in Chandrawal and 2 MGD in Bawana had been completed, along with underground reservoirs in Bijwasan, Palla and Siraspur. A further Rs 1,200 crore is being spent on upgrading the network in the Chandrawal command area.

The Government also announced plans to expand reuse of treated wastewater. Delhi treats around 750 MGD of sewage, of which about 483 MGD is available for reuse after accounting for environmental flow needs, though only around 120 MGD is currently reused. Treated water will be priced at Rs 8 per kilolitre when collected from Jal Board infrastructure, and Rs 5 per kilolitre for general non-potable use where consumers arrange their own transport, for purposes such as construction, horticulture and industrial cooling.

Water Minister Parvesh Sahib Singh said a Water Master Plan and a Drainage Master Plan had been prepared, and that of the 169 waterlogging spots identified by Traffic Police in 2025, work was currently underway at 60 locations.