Hungary is on the Right Track - Another Hungarian Major Project Approved by Brussels21 April 2011
Re-planning gave a new boost to the country: the EU now officially supports the 22nd Hungarian major investment. The European Commission approved the major project proposal "Sewage disposal and wastewater purification of Tápió region" on 14 April.
A modern wastewater treatment system is being built for the 20 settlements of the five wastewater micro-regions. Building some 700 kilometres of sewage enables 30,000 households to join the network. Wastewater is processed by five modern waste water purification plants and dehydrated sludge is composted.
The National Development Agency submitted the support request to the Commission for EU co-financing last year. The total cost of the investment is approximately HUF 29 billion. EU co-financing is more than HUF 24 billion. EU financing rate is 84.12%. Own funds will be provided by the settlements from the contribution of waterworks partnership members. The project owner is the Tápió Region Regional Development Partnership. The operator is Káta-Hydro Kft., a company owned by the Partnership.
The project covers a large area, comprising 20 local governments with effect on the everyday life of 70,000 citizens. The investment is needed because the majority (nearly two-thirds) of closed wastewater collectors of the region do not comply with standards, and are in fact not closed. If wastewater management continued to be unresolved in the Tápió region, it would put surface water and groundwater sources at risk. Irreversible processes would start affecting nature conservation areas of international and national importance leading to irreparable damage.
The aim of the investment is to build sewerage and biological wastewater purification infrastructure, and the nontoxic storage of communal wastewater.
As part of the project an appropriate wastewater collection network will be built in all settlements. A total of 29,948 households will be connected to the system. A total of 699 kilometres of new sewers will be built consisting of 464 kilometres of main sewer pipes and 235 kilometres of household connections.
The project includes the rebuilding and extension of the Tápiószentmárton sewage treatment facility and the extension of the Nagykáta facility. Three micro-regional sewage treatment facilities will be built (Szentlőrinckáta, Sülysáp, Tápiószele) with enough capacity to transport the daily average of 8,100 m3 wastewater of the 20 settlements. 19 m3/day dehydrated sludge generated in the Tápió region will be transferred to the new Nagykáta regional composting facility.
The investment is expected to decrease soil and groundwater pollution on the affected settlements and thus lessen health related risk. The people living in the Tápió region will also be more protected against the damage caused by floods.