Fiji building state-of-art water bottling plant

SUVA – After five years of preparations, the groundwork for a multimillion-dollar mineral water-bottling factory in the interior of Ra province of Fiji will begin soon.

Bob Bishop, the director of 480 Holdings Company Ltd, said the project commenced in 2010 and the company had been working with government ministries to move it forward.

Co-founded by Tavua businessman Rajendra Patel, the company aims to open up a mineral water-bottling company in the Yaqara valley near Nananu Village.

“This project will be about $120 to $140million Fijian (US$ 58 - $67 million) and represents close to 17,000 square metres,” he said.

“It will be one of the finest, state-of-the-art bottling facilities on planet Earth in one of the most pristine, beautiful locations.”

He said with plans finalised, they were now moving into the engineering phase.

“We will start with some of the basic roads and bridges. A safety route is already done around the back of Nananu Village to gain access to the site, as I did not want to create danger for children in the village.

“We continue to work up there but you’re looking at a couple of months to start the very basic groundworks – two to four months – and then the major equipment hitting the grounds in the five to six-month period. All the funding is getting finalised.”