KAJANG (Feb 28): MMC Corp Bhd’s Langat Centralised Sewage Treatment Plant (Langat CSTP) is expected to receive and start treating its first sewage inflow by April this year, at an initial inflow of 112,000m³ per day.

During this first phase of operation, the sewage treatment plant will go through a testing and commissioning stage that will last for about two years, until it reaches its scheduled full project completion in 2021, said MMC chief operating officer Mohd Razin Ghazali.

“We will do it in stages. By July or August, we expect the treatment plant to manage sewage inflow of 115,000m³ per day. We will need some time for testing and commissioning until the plant achieves full capacity,” he told reporters during a media familiarisation trip to the plant here today.

The Langat CSTP, which is part of the RM1.5 billion infrastructure project — the Langat Sewerage Project — is built on a 7.3ha piece of land and will be capable of processing sewage inflow of 207,000m³ a day or 920,000 population-equivalent (PE), covering a catchment area of 77.6 sq km, including Cheras Batu 11, Cheras Jaya, Desa Baiduri, as well as Kajang 1 and 3.

According to Mohd Razin, the Langat CSTP is currently 94.83% completed as of this month, while the overall Langat Sewerage Project is 77.08% completed. “At this point, the construction of the whole project is currently on schedule,” he added.

The sewage treatment plant will benefit the local Cheras-Kajang population by treating water discharge from the area to achieve Class 1 water quality before releasing it into Sungai Langat, specifically to reduce the ammonia level in the river.

On completion in 2021, the Langat CSTP will replace 153 small sewage treatment plants within the Cheras-Kajang area and connect upcoming development areas with a network of modern sewerage facilities.

Mohd Razin also highlighted that the Langat CSTP is constructed in a conventionally limited land area. This challenge was addressed by adopting an innovative treatment technology — the Deep Aeration Method with Step-Feed Multi Stage De-Nitrification Process — that increases sewage inflow capacity by up to three times more than the conventional method with the same size of land area.

The technology was inspired by the Tokyo Metropolitan Sewerage Service in Japan, a modern facility equipped with green technology initiatives. The Langat CSTP will be the first sewage treatment plant outside of Japan to adopt the method.

Interestingly, the Langat CSTP will also be equipped with recreational facilities for the public including 16 badminton courts, two sepak takraw courts, two basketball courts, two futsal courts, a children’s playground and a community hall.

The project was awarded by Ministry of Water, Land and Natural Resources and MMC Corp's wholly-owned subsidiary MMC Pembetungan Langat Sdn Bhd is the main contractor of the whole infrastructure project.