Ganduje forces ‘pure’ water producers to reduce price

Kano State government has reached an agreement with packaged water producers in the state, to reduce the price of the product from N100 to N80 per bag.

This implies that every two sachets of the commodity would be sold at N15, as against the current price of N10 for a sachet.

Members of the association, however, agreed to revert to the old price of N5 each sachet as soon as the cost of polythene used in producing the sachets decreases.

Speaking shortly after a meeting with members of the association at the Government House in Kano, the state governor, Abdullahi Umar Ganduje, said the meeting was against the backdrop of rising cost of packaged water in the state.

“Government is aware that they are facing operational challenges but at the same time they must be considerate,” the governor said

He added that his government had approached a polythene production company in Rivers State, which has promised to explore the possibility of assisting the packaged water producers in Kano to get its product easily.

In the meantime, he announced that his administration, through the Ministry of Environment would provide them with 10 water processing machines to cushion to enable them regularize the cost of sachet water in Kano.

He also said the government plans to introduce an empowerment programme for youths whereby beneficiaries would be assisted to collect used water sachets and sell them to water producers for recycling.

Earlier, Salisu Sani, chairman of the state Pure Water Producers Association disclosed that increase in the price of their product was as a result of rising cost of production, disclosing, “one kilogramme of the material used in producing the sachets was hitherto N570 as against N1250 today”.

He assured that the cost per sachet would be reduced as soon as operational cost stabilises.