PORT Moresby residents will expect uninterrupted water supply following the installation of an additional Clarifier to act as a back-up or redundancy.

Water PNG Limited has signed a K58.7 million project contract for the construction of an additional Clarifier, at the Mt. Eriama Water Treatment Plant in Port Moresby.

Water PNG has adapted the FIDIC Engineering, Procurement and Construction (EPC) Contract to enable the effective execution of the project by the contractor, XYZ Construction (PNG) Limited.

The proposed Clarifier will come online after 19 months of the construction work. The Clarifier, also known as the mixing tank or the settling tank, will hold an estimated capacity of 100 million litre of water per day (MLD), and will support the three existing clarifiers that currently hold 30MLD, 60MLD and 90MLD, respectively.

The new Clarifier will be constructed south of the existing clarifiers at Mt. Eriama, and will serve as a redundant clarification tank. 

This means when one of the three clarifiers goes offline for maintenance work, the proposed clarification tank will carry on the normal process of mixing and cleaning raw water, to ensure there is no disruption to water production at the Plant, and the overall distribution of water supply to the city residents.

The project contract was signed between Water PNG Limited and the EPC contractor XYZ Construction (PNG) Limited, on the evening of Tuesday 03^rd May, 2022.

Present to witness the milestone event were the executive management team from Kumul Consolidated Holdings (KCH).

KCH Executive Manager Jethro Wala, noted that while Water PNG strives to ensure city residents receive quality water service, the State entity has faced many challenges.

“This is a step forward. Something that has been lacking in the city for a long time, but these are legacy issues that we have been dealing with,” Mr Wala said.

Water PNG Chief Executive Officer Parkop Kurua reiterated that Water PNG has many operational challenges but the recently merged entity was making progress.

“We do not have the capacity to stage planned maintenance work because we don’t have redundancy capabilities. This project will provide that depth.   

“It’s a critical piece of infrastructure that we need to build. It underpins consistent production and reliability of supply,” Mr Kurua added.

Water PNG Board Chairman Ambassador Aiwa Olmi said the Water Treatment Plant needed rehabilitation and upgrading of its infrastructure.

“Water PNG envisions to be the best performing state-owned entity. We want to provide safe and affordable water and sewerage services throughout Papua New Guinea.

“We are trying our best within our financial limits, the work limitations we have, and the experiences that we have. Building new water supply systems is expensive,” he said.

“I would also like to encourage the contractor to deliver quality product within budget and the set time frame.”  

Water PNG and KCH will counter-fund the construction of the additional Clarifier.

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