Abu Thiyab Holdings Co, a Saudi company, announced that it was poised to inaugurate its water bottling plant in September 2011 in its factory in Ethiopia. The construction of the plant in Gelan, a 35 million birr investment on three hectares of land 35 km east of Addis Ababa, is almost finished.
Once the company starts production in September, it will turn out 4,500 bottles an hour for 24 hours in three shifts and 27 million bottles a year.The company had spent 22 million birr on imported machinery and nine million birr on civil construction works, Ahmed Hassen, general manager of Abu Thiyab Holdings Co, said.
When the plant goes operational, it will produce 1.5-litre, 2.5-litre, and 25-litre plastic bottles of purified water sourced from underground around the factory's site.
The company is planning to produce bottled water first for local consumption, but later on for export to neighbouring countries and Gulf States, the general manager said.
Source: Fortune
