Hitachi to sign pact with Guj to set up desalination plant

Japanese industrial solutions giant Hitachi will sign a contract with the Gujarat government next month for setting up of a sea water desalination plant in the state that will treat 3.36 lakh tonnes of water every day.

To be executed by four partners, the construction of the facility will largely be financed by the Japanese government under Indo-Japan joint investment strategy.

Also Read: Hitachi to invest Rs 4,700 cr in India by 2016

"We are going to sign the contract next month with the Gujarat government. The plant will be developed under Build-Own-Operate-Maintain (BOOM) method.

"The plant will have the capacity to desalinate 3,36,000 tonnes of water per day," Hitachi India Managing Director Ichiro Iino told PTI here.

The project will be executed by a consortium of four partners where apart from Hitachi, other parties include Hyflux from Singapore, Japan's Itochu Corporation and the Gujarat government, he added.

When asked how much could be the investment to build the plant, Iino said: "We have not decided it yet as the details are being worked out...The project will be developed by Indo-Japan joint investment and largely be financed by Japanese government.

"To be constructed at Dahej, the plant is scheduled to be operational by 2015," he added.

"The treated water will be sold to Dahej SEZ. Also factories at Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor (DMIC) will purchase desalinated water from this plant," Iino said.

Earlier this month, Hitachi had announced plans to invest about Rs 4,700 crore for expansion in India, including setting up of five new manufacturing plants and acquiring local firms, by March 2016.

The company that has over 20 group companies in a wide range of segments, including power and industrial systems, industrial components and equipments, air conditioning and television, is also looking to almost treble its revenues from the country to Rs 20,000 crore by 2015-16.

Signifying the importance of the Indian market, the firm that is looking to nearly double its employee strength to 13,000 in the next four years, also held its global board meeting here in December this year, the first outside Japan.

At present, Hitachi has 12 plants in operation, including those of joint ventures in India across all its business verticals.