Dishonest cos take over bottled water business in city
Monday, 15 March 2010
Jasim Uddin Haroon
Defying the minimum standards set by the BSTI unscrupulous traders are having heyday selling untreated water in jars labelled purified in urban areas as WASA has failed to ensure its supply to citizens.
Numbering between 350 and 400 in the city alone these dishonest sellers were running a brisk business although the Bangladesh Standards and Testing Institution (BSTI) had certified only 175 companies so far to run the water trade, said an official.
They said most of the bottled water suppliers evading value added tax (VAT) and other levies were depriving the government of a large sum of money.
The demand for purified water in jars has been growing fast in the urban areas over the past one decade as the state-owned WASA has miserably failed to improve the supply of pure drinking water.
Lutfur Rahman, a director of BSTI, said, "Those who have obtained certificates supply pure water in the urban areas. But there are a large number of unregistered water purifiers."
"We are conducting drives twice a week against the unscrupulous manufacturers," he told the FE admitting that during the drive they had found many of them supplying unhygienic water for drinking purpose.
Experts termed the BSTI monitoring inadequate as Mr Rahman said they normally visit the certified companies once a year.
There were more than a dozen companies operating in the city that maintain standards and also pay taxes. They however complain of uneven competitions with unscrupulous manufacturers in the fastest growing sector.
Company officials said compliant factories were supplying around 7.0 million large jars a year with a sales turnover of about Tk 350 million.
"We don't have any authentic statistics regarding the market size captured by the small and house-based water suppliers. But their supply growth is phenomenal because of their cheaper products," said A Matin Chowdhury, managing director of Singha Bangladesh Ltd.
His company introduced Aqua Minerals, bottled pure drinking water, in 1990, the first in the country.
Mr Matin said the annual growth of compliant companies will be on an average 15 per cent while the growth of non-compliant factories was much higher as they sell low rate products.
The brand companies sell each water jar weighing 18.9 litres between Tk 40 and Tk 67 while the informal manufacturers sell the same between Tk 25 and Tk 35.
Insiders said there was no real effort to monitor the house-based small water suppliers or the big ones whether they were maintaining standards or not.
"Actually there is no effective authority to monitor us," said Md Anissuzzaman, a director of Alpine.
Alpine Fresh launched its operation by supplying jar water in 1996 and became the market leader grabbing more than 20 per cent of the business share.
Satyajit Saha, marketing manager of Alpine, said his company had grabbed more than 20 per cent market share by supplying more than 1.2 million jars a year to offices and households in the built-up areas.
The other market leaders are Duncan Brothers, Aqua Minerals, Fresh, ADI, Vista and Exim Trade.
Mr Anis, who is also a senior leader of the Association of Bangladesh Minerals and Purified Water Manufacturers, said, "Our membership is limited as most do not possess VAT registration, TIN number, trade licences or BSTI registration."
According to BSTI, there are 30 parameters to ensure purified water.
Generally, the compliant companies purify underground water through reverse osmosis method. This is a filtration process which removes many types of large and small molecules by forcing the liquid at high pressure through a porous membrane.
Companies might use both surface and underground water for purification.
Mr Anisuzzaman said, "Permission from WASA is mandatory while exploring underground water in the city areas but this is not required in the outskirt of the capital."
Mr Anis said there was a huge gap between demand and supply saying brand companies were not investing in this sector because of the inherent distribution problem and the presence of unscrupulous traders.
Kamruzzaman Kamal, executive director of Pran-RFL said his company intended to launch purified water project but it refrained from starting the business because of the distribution problem involved.
Zulfiquer Ali, managing director of United Enterprise who supplies Vista brand in the market, said that the genuine purified water manufacturers were running into difficulty due to the 'informal' housed-based companies.
"We've appealed to the government many times for the sake of public health but it never heeded us," he said.
Mr Matin said, "The Awami League government has enacted a law prohibiting the use of WASA water for purification to discourage small companies. But the law remains unimplemented."
Matin, also a member of a BSTI committee, said there was a need for coordination among BSTI and other government agencies to ensure supply of pure drinking water.
The demand for purified water reaches its peak during March-April-May when WASA fails to cope with the growing demand but the demand declines during winter.
WASA, which monopolises water supply to the city people, often fails to supply pure water in areas including Mirpur, Badda, Bonoshri, Rampura and in most part of the old town. The situation in Chittagong, Rajshahi and Khulna cities is no better.
Defying the minimum standards set by the BSTI unscrupulous traders are having heyday selling untreated water in jars labelled purified in urban areas as WASA has failed to ensure its supply to citizens.
Numbering between 350 and 400 in the city alone these dishonest sellers were running a brisk business although the Bangladesh Standards and Testing Institution (BSTI) had certified only 175 companies so far to run the water trade, said an official.
They said most of the bottled water suppliers evading value added tax (VAT) and other levies were depriving the government of a large sum of money.
The demand for purified water in jars has been growing fast in the urban areas over the past one decade as the state-owned WASA has miserably failed to improve the supply of pure drinking water.
Lutfur Rahman, a director of BSTI, said, "Those who have obtained certificates supply pure water in the urban areas. But there are a large number of unregistered water purifiers."
"We are conducting drives twice a week against the unscrupulous manufacturers," he told the FE admitting that during the drive they had found many of them supplying unhygienic water for drinking purpose.
Experts termed the BSTI monitoring inadequate as Mr Rahman said they normally visit the certified companies once a year.
There were more than a dozen companies operating in the city that maintain standards and also pay taxes. They however complain of uneven competitions with unscrupulous manufacturers in the fastest growing sector.
Company officials said compliant factories were supplying around 7.0 million large jars a year with a sales turnover of about Tk 350 million.
"We don't have any authentic statistics regarding the market size captured by the small and house-based water suppliers. But their supply growth is phenomenal because of their cheaper products," said A Matin Chowdhury, managing director of Singha Bangladesh Ltd.
His company introduced Aqua Minerals, bottled pure drinking water, in 1990, the first in the country.
Mr Matin said the annual growth of compliant companies will be on an average 15 per cent while the growth of non-compliant factories was much higher as they sell low rate products.
The brand companies sell each water jar weighing 18.9 litres between Tk 40 and Tk 67 while the informal manufacturers sell the same between Tk 25 and Tk 35.
Insiders said there was no real effort to monitor the house-based small water suppliers or the big ones whether they were maintaining standards or not.
"Actually there is no effective authority to monitor us," said Md Anissuzzaman, a director of Alpine.
Alpine Fresh launched its operation by supplying jar water in 1996 and became the market leader grabbing more than 20 per cent of the business share.
Satyajit Saha, marketing manager of Alpine, said his company had grabbed more than 20 per cent market share by supplying more than 1.2 million jars a year to offices and households in the built-up areas.
The other market leaders are Duncan Brothers, Aqua Minerals, Fresh, ADI, Vista and Exim Trade.
Mr Anis, who is also a senior leader of the Association of Bangladesh Minerals and Purified Water Manufacturers, said, "Our membership is limited as most do not possess VAT registration, TIN number, trade licences or BSTI registration."
According to BSTI, there are 30 parameters to ensure purified water.
Generally, the compliant companies purify underground water through reverse osmosis method. This is a filtration process which removes many types of large and small molecules by forcing the liquid at high pressure through a porous membrane.
Companies might use both surface and underground water for purification.
Mr Anisuzzaman said, "Permission from WASA is mandatory while exploring underground water in the city areas but this is not required in the outskirt of the capital."
Mr Anis said there was a huge gap between demand and supply saying brand companies were not investing in this sector because of the inherent distribution problem and the presence of unscrupulous traders.
Kamruzzaman Kamal, executive director of Pran-RFL said his company intended to launch purified water project but it refrained from starting the business because of the distribution problem involved.
Zulfiquer Ali, managing director of United Enterprise who supplies Vista brand in the market, said that the genuine purified water manufacturers were running into difficulty due to the 'informal' housed-based companies.
"We've appealed to the government many times for the sake of public health but it never heeded us," he said.
Mr Matin said, "The Awami League government has enacted a law prohibiting the use of WASA water for purification to discourage small companies. But the law remains unimplemented."
Matin, also a member of a BSTI committee, said there was a need for coordination among BSTI and other government agencies to ensure supply of pure drinking water.
The demand for purified water reaches its peak during March-April-May when WASA fails to cope with the growing demand but the demand declines during winter.
WASA, which monopolises water supply to the city people, often fails to supply pure water in areas including Mirpur, Badda, Bonoshri, Rampura and in most part of the old town. The situation in Chittagong, Rajshahi and Khulna cities is no better.