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| Edited By: Satish John |Source: |Updated: Sep 15, 2017, 02:03 AM IST
Alliance will focus on urban infrastructure
MUMBAI: Home-grown Jain Irrigation Systems and Israel’s national water company, Mekorot, have signed an MoU to work together in projects related to ‘water infrastructure’ in the country.
With the government more amenable to letting private enterprise work in the water infrastructure sector, the tie-up will help Jain Irrigation to be taken more seriously when public-private partnerships come up for bids.
Jain Irrigation is into micro irrigation systems, food processing and plastic pipes and sheets. Analysts call the company a “direct play” on Indian agriculture.
Mekorot is Israel’s national water company, which supplies 80% of the country’s drinking water and 70% of its entire water supply. Analysts believe it is one of the world’s most advanced water companies, a leader in water resources management, desalination, wastewater treatment and effluent reuse, rain enhancement water project engineering.
The alliance will focus on urban infrastructure.
Anil Jain, managing director of Jain Irrigation told DNA Money, “The partnership would initially concentrate in the metros and mini-metros, before it decides to spread into rural towns.”
Jain was not willing to comment on the initial investment. “Any figure that I mention at this point would be arbitrary,” he reasoned.
According to Jain, the JV has an edge as no other Indian company has the technology and management bandwidth to deal in waste-water recycling and cost effective desalination plants.
We could have just one JV or a slew of special purpose vehicles as some metro projects may be capital intensive, while a few may be project contracts he said. The sector needs investments to the tune of billions of dollars, he added.
The two companies will initially establish a framework for joint cooperation and collaboration to explore potential projects in the field of desalination plants, water resource management, water supply systems, municipal water management and wastewater treatment and reclamation projects in India, a statement said.
The tasks for the partners are clearly cut out.
Mekorot will provide design and technological capabilities along with its management resources.
Jain Irrigation will take care of customer relationships and procurement of equipment and execution of plant facility.
Notably, the company has taken up a project in a few select villages in Karnataka to provide 24x7 water supply in partnership with French water services major Veolia.
