Presentation Day at the Construction Site of the New Sewage Treatment Plant in Litvínov

04. 05. 2010

On 4 May, the presentation day of the construction project was held at the premises of the sewage treatment plant currently being constructed in Litvínov. The investor of the new sewage treatment plant, the total price of which amounts to CZK 370 million, is Severočeská vodárenská společnost a.s. The investor of the construction project presumes that financial assistance is to be provided in the form of grants from the Cohesion Fund of the EU and the State Environmental Fund of the Czech Republic through the Operational Programme ´Environment´.

The presentation day of the site of the new sewage treatment plant in Litvínov was attended by representatives of the investor (SVS), the contractor (the consortium of EDS, Viamont DSP and OHL ŽS companies), the construction project manager (Garnets Consulting), representatives of state administration, local self-government and other guests who were informed about the current state of the works and evaluated the existing progress of the implementation.

Jan Kubata, the Vice-Chairman of the Board of Directors of Severočeská vodárenská společnost, said: “The construction of the new sewage treatment plant in Litvínov with the volume of financing that amounts to CZK 370 million is one of the largest construction projects of SVS in the Ústí nad Labem region implemented as a part of “strategic investments”. The best available technologies will be used in the new sewage treatment plant so that municipal sewage waste may be treated in compliance with new strict standards. The sewage treatment plant capacity is sufficient taking into account further development of the agglomeration as regards the number of its inhabitants or small businesses and production plants.”

In the past, municipal liquid waste from Litvínov was conveyed to the sewage treatment plant at the premises of Unipetrol Litvínov, which is now in the possession of Severočeská vodárenská společnost. This sewage treatment plant was put into operation in the 1970s and no longer meets the requirements of the new, stricter legislation. Purified waters from the sewage treatment plant flow off to the River Bílina.

Severočeská vodárenská společnost has been building a new municipal sewage treatment plant for Litvínov and the surrounding villages of Meziboří, Hamr, Chudeřín, Janov and Záluží u Litvínova at the premises of the Unipetrol RPA s. r. o. plant, in the vicinity of the existing industrial sewage treatment plant. The construction project is implemented on the land that SVS bought from Unipetrol. Sewage will be conveyed by means of a gravitational sewer leading through the premises of Unipetrol to the input pumping station located inside the fenced off premises of the new sewage treatment plant.

The new sewage treatment plant will be of the mechanical-biological type (the R-D-N type with a superposed sedimentation tank) with complete sludge, gas and heat management. This is the best available technology for sewage treatment plants. Municipal liquid wastes will be treated in compliance with Council Directive 91/271/EEC. The capacity of the new sewage treatment plant is 36,000 equivalent inhabitants, of which 32,000 EI from connected inhabitants including workshops and industrial facilities, and 4,000 EI as a provision for an increase in the number of inhabitants or increased production from workshops and industry, as the case may be.

The total financial volume of the construction is nearly CZK 308 million (excluding 20 % VAT). SVS submitted an application for a subsidy through the Operational Programme ´Environment´ from the EU Cohesion Fund and the State Environmental Fund of the Czech Republic. The subsidy from the Cohesion Fund could amount to approx. CZK 157 million (65 % of the eligible costs), the subsidy from the State Environmental Fund could amount to as much as CZK 13 million (5 %). SVS has been covering the implementation costs of the work fully from its own resources. At the end of April 2010, approx. CZK 240 million had been spent on investments, which represents nearly 78 % of the total contractual price of the work. Major construction work has already been finished; technologies are being installed at the moment.

The construction project implementation has met with unexpected problems since its beginning. When the construction work began, extensive contamination of the subsurface by a mixture of various substances of organic origin was detected. The contamination spread across the majority of the site areas. After the extent of the contamination had been established, a method for its elimination was selected and the contaminated soil was extracted and removed to a controlled dumping site. The decontamination work delayed the construction activities but did not threaten the deadline of the project. The prolonged winter period of 2009/2010 also caused some partial complications which were however managed in a flexible manner. The construction even maintained a slight time advance as regards the financial performance when compared to the updated schedule. The course of the work required several on the spot changes depending on actual conditions. The concept of the work in accordance with the tender specifications has however been maintained.

The contractor for the construction project, selected by a tender process, is a consortium of building companies titled “Sdružení EDS – Viamont DSP – OHL ŽS – ČOV Litvínov”, with Energetické a dopravní stavby a. s. as its leading member, and OHL ŽS, a.s., and Viamont DSP, a.s. as its members. The construction project began by handing the site over to the contractor on 15 December 2008 and is to be completed within 24 months, i.e. by 31 December 2010.