Bottled mineral water Shanti marketed by the Dhaka Water Supply and Sewerage Authority is failing to attract Dhaka city dwellers' attention in the absence of a proper marketing policy, observed officials concerned.
Shaheda Islam, microbiologist at the Mirpur Bottled Water Production Plant (Shanti), said the authorities took the Tk 17-crore Shanti project in 2006, when a US company, Severn Trent Services, set up the plant with its own equipment.
The plant itself produces bottles and caps and purifies water through ultra violet treatment for four times, filtration with carbon filter, 0.5, 1.0 and 0.2 micron filters, reverse osmosis system, mineral dosing and ozonation, she said, detailing the process.
But despite its better quality, Shanti bottled water is not in good demand, she said, putting it down to the absence of a sound marketing policy.
The water in half, one, one and a half, two, five and twenty litres' bottles is respectively priced Tk 10, Tk 14, Tk 18, Tk 21, Tk 50, and Tk 60.
'See a half-litre Shanti water bottle's wholesale price is Tk 7.70 and the retail price Tk 10 while the wholesale price of the same-size bottle of water marketed by other mineral water companies ranges between Tk 5.50 and Tk 7.50. But they are retailed at Tk 12,' she said, explaining, 'that is why businessmen or shopkeepers take no interest in selling Shanti water.'
She said, 'The plant collects underground water and can treat 10,000 litres per hour. We can bottle 30,000 to 40,000 litres per day.'
Shaheda Islam, however, said at present they were bottling 15,000 litters of water because of the reduced demand in the market.
Two high officials of the plant, seeking anonymity, said WASA had no marketing policy for its Shanti mineral water, which pushed down its demand in the market.
'We do not have any marketing department,' said one of the high officials, adding, 'we should also have sales representatives who could promote our water as it is the best in this country.'
They also alleged that some bottled mineral water companies at different times tried to hinder the sale of Shanti.
An official of the certification marks department of the Bangladesh Standards and Testing Institute, seeking anonymity, said the institute had a standard for drinking water and every bottled water company must follow it.
He said the institute gave licence to about 15 bottled water companies which maintained good quality of their products.
'See there are no marketing department of Shanti,' he said, asking, 'So how can you expect that its water will sell good?'
Shanti mineral water has twenty selling outlets in the city like at Shabagh, Ramna, Dhanmondi, Kalabagan, Farmgate, Motijheel, Mirpur, and Pallabi in the capital.
Source : New Age
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