The Hindu Business Line : JUSCO, Veolia to take up water supply, sewage disposal projects

JAMSHEDPUR Utilities and Services Company Ltd (JUSCO), a wholly owned subsidiary of Tata Steel, is talking to a couple of municipalities and water boards to see if it can take over the water distribution and sewage disposal functions.

As part of this effort, it has enlarged the scope of its tie-up with Veolia Water India Pvt Ltd, a wholly owned subsidiary of Veolia Water Africa-Middle East-India.

JUSCO has made presentations to some municipalities and water boards, explaining its capabilities, according to the Managing Director, Mr Sanjiv Paul. He, however, declined to reveal the names of the municipalities and water boards that the company had made presentations to.

"It will be six months to a year before we sign up any contract. These things take time," he told Business Line over telephone.

In a press release, the company said it had signed an agreement with Veolia Water India to jointly bid or submit proposals for operations and management of water and wastewater projects. JUSCO and Veolia have been working together since 2003 in Jamshedpur.

In a presentation to a team of visiting journalists at Jamshedpur recently, JUSCO officials said that the company has tied up with Veolia for water business and with Minaean Habitat (India) Pvt Ltd, a subsidiary of Minaean International Corp of Canada, for steel intensive construction. Minaean Building Solutions has licensed its patented steel intensive construction technology to JUSCO for exclusive use in India.

A press release issued by Minaean announcing the licensing agreement with JUSCO in April 2004, said that the agreement with the company could generate up to $ 900,000 in licensing fees and royalties. JUSCO will use Minaean's proprietary Vesta and Artisan construction technologies for steel intensive construction projects in India.

In their interaction with journalists, JUSCO officials were confident that the experience gained by managing water supply and sewage disposal in Jamshedpur could be used in other similar industrial townships. For instance, the company has evinced interest in taking over the maintenance of Oil and Natural Gas Corporation's colony in Jorhat, Assam, which has about 300 houses.

The officials saw enormous opportunities in the water supply sector, especially with the Centre proposing desalination plants in States like Tamil Nadu. This is where JUSCO's tie up with Veolia Water will be useful.