Govt. for private sector desalination plants

New Delhi, Mar 6 (UNI) The government will encourage the private sector for building desalination plants along the coast to make pure drinking water available to the people living near the sea, Science and Technology Minister Kapil Sibal said today.

By December, a desalination plant with a capacity of ten million litres per day will be in place near Chennai which will be selling water at 4-6 paise per litre, he told a news conference.

''We are talking to private parties for building such plants all along the coast of India,'' Mr Sibal said.

Another plant which can produce one million litres per day will be ready, also near Chennai, by the month-end, he added.

Last week, a National Institute of Ocean Technology-built 100,000 litre per day capacity desalination plant in Kavaratti was handed over to the Lakshadweep administration.

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