KWA to hand over Aruvikkara bottled water plant to KIIDC

September 22, 2019 12:46 am | Updated 12:46 am IST

The Kerala Water Authority (KWA) has decided to hand over the management of its bottled water plant at Aruvikkara, which is yet to start production, to the Kerala Irrigation Infrastructure Development Corporation Ltd (KIIDC).

A state government undertaking, KIIDC markets the 'Hilly Aqua' brand of bottled water. The KWA board which met on September 5 decided to entrust the management to KIIDC ''Since the plant has to be run efficiently in the form of a company,'' a KWA statement said on Saturday.

As per the KWA decision, KIIDC would be in charge of all aspects of handling and operations of the plant including production and marketing.

Water Resources Minister K. Krishnankutty, when contacted, said the government was yet to finalise a decision on the KWA board proposal.

Although the 7200 litre-capacity plant (1.81 lakh bottles a day) had been completed by February this year, speculations about its future were rife in recent months due to the delays plaguing its commissioning. In fact, the decision to hand over the plant to KIIDC has come after the KWA had even decided 'Thelineer' as the brand name for its packaged water. On its part, KWA had justified the delay on account of the mandatory clearances required from the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) and the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS).

Initially, the KWA had planned to deploy its own technically-competent staff to run the plant. 'Thelineer' would come in 500 ml, one litre and two litre bottles and 15 litre canisters. The prices have not been finalised yet.

KWA had conceived the packaged drinking water project 12 years ago. The state government issued administrative sanction for the project on April 4, 2014, for an estimated cost of Rs 2.85 crore. Although tenders were invited the same year, a re-tender had to be ordered as KWA received only one bid. Although the work was awarded to M/s Shivam Water Treaters Pvt Ltd, KWA terminated the deal ''due to the poor performance of the bidder.''

In 2015, administrative sanction was obtained afresh and the project was again re-tendered in three packages. The civil works were awarded to M/s Chicago Constructions International Pvt Ltd for Rs. 5.13 crore; the electrical works to M/s Imperial Engineering Company, Kochi, for Rs 99 lakh, and the plant and machinery work to M/s Hi-Tech Sweet Water Technologies Pvt Ltd, Gujarat, at Rs 5.63 crore. Trials were conducted at the plant in February this year.

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