A new bottled water factory, Africa Water, has started production in Ethiopia. The locally-owned joint venture company is founded with a capital of 700 million birr, and has started producing natural water.

Africa Water's plant, located at Holeta, some 30 kilometers west of Addis Ababa, has the capacity of purifying and packing 42,000 bottles of water per hour. In a few months, however, the factory is set to increase its capacity to 66,000 bottles per hour.

Lemi Tuja, General Manager of the factory, says his company does not compromise on quality "as its production process involves no human touch, which will keep its best total dissolved solids value." The product has obtained a conformity assessment certificate from the Ethiopian Conformity Assessment Enterprise.

Africa Water aims to reach customers in various parts of Ethiopia within a few weeks, Mr. Lemi added. He has also said they plan to start producing soft drinks and packaging juices targeted for the South Asian market as well.

Africa Water employs 500 people in its first phase of production and will create employment opportunities for over 2000 workers when it starts operating at its full capacity, according to the General Manager.

Source: Ethiopian Monitor