Thiruvananthapuram: After years of delay, the Kerala water authority has reached the final phase of construction of the bottled water plant at Aruvikkara. The test run of the machineries have begun. The KWA is hoping to commission the project within two months.
The KWA began the process to construct the plant in Aruvikkara in 2010. Even after inviting several tenders KWA was not able to get a bidder for the project. The delay has invited serious criticism from the part of CAG in its report in 2013. They CAG has criticized that KWA was a failure in taking up income-generating projects. KWA has invited around six tenders for the project.
The project got a revival two years ago when KWA decided to tender the project as three different components such as civil, electrical and mechanical. It also revised the estimate from Rs 2.2 crore to Rs 10 crore. Now the installation of machineries has completed. KWA officials said that they would soon approach food safety and standard authority and Bureau of Indian Standards for the certification process. “Some works related to electrical connections need to be completed. Currently the test run is progressing on DC generator. After that we are waiting for inspection of electrical inspectorate,” said an official.
The bottled water plant of KWA has a capacity to produce 7,200 litres per day. KWA is planning to release water in 500 ml, 1 litre, 2 litre and 20 litre bottles/cans. KWA is using revere osmosis with UV, dechlorination and filtration to treat the water.
Water resources minister Mathew T Thomas has informed Assembly that the government has not decided on the price of the bottle water. The KWA, which is facing a major cash crunch, is hopeful of the bottling water project, as it one of the few income-generating projects. Currently, KWA has no bottle water project under it. The lone government-owned bottle water project is the ‘Hilly Aqua’ of Kerala Irrigation Infrastructure Development Corporation Limited (KIIDC).
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