Madhya Pradesh government has charted an ambitious plan to completely stop open defecation in urban areas by 2017 and provide sanitation access through individual household toilets by 2025.

"The 'Madhya Pradesh Sanitation Vision 2025' (MPSV) has been drawn with an aim to make urban areas in the state free of open defecation by 2017 and achieve a near complete (99.8 per cent) sanitation access through provision of individual household level toilets by 2025," state Urban Administration and Development Department Commissioner Sanjay Shukla said.

Requiring an investment of over Rs 13,969 crore, the plan has been lauded by World Bank, Asian Development Bank (ADB), KfW, a German Development Bank, and GIZ, also a German body for international cooperation, the Commissioner said.

"After a round of discussion with the World Bank (WB), its representative said that they may arrange finances in the form of soft loans from their partner agencies," Shukla said, adding that the world body's response to the project was very encouraging.

"Similarly, GIZ has also shown keen interest in the project and asked us to give a Letter of Intent (LoI) to proceed further in the matter," he said.

Otherwise also, the state government is committed to go ahead with its MPSV 2025 plan and it is expected to contribute 35.5 per cent of the total investment, while grants from other sources are estimated to contribute 20.1 per cent, he said.

The remaining funds will be generated through Urban Local Bodies (ULBs) and PPP (Public Private Partnership) mode.

The plan is likely to be launched as soon as the financial modalities are worked out.

The findings of Census 2011 on urban sanitation in Madhya Pradesh, which showed 22 per cent prevalence of open defecation and less than 20 per cent having access to sewer connection, highlight the distance that needs to be traversed to achieve universal urban sanitation, the Commissioner said.

It is in this context that the state government was launching MPSV 2025, which is built on the intent of the Centre's Integrated Urban Sanitation Programme (IUSP) guidelines and articulates service delivery targets to achieve inclusive and affordable access to sanitation in urban areas by 2025, Shukla said.

Besides making urban areas in the state free from open defecation by 2017, the programme will also facilitate toilet access, initially with community toilet provision and migration to 99.8 per cent individual toilet coverage by 2025.

The target is to achieve 100 per cent safe disposal of generated waste-water by 2025 through a combination of sewerage and on-site systems.