Come next year's Beijing Olympics, and tens of thousands organisers, delegates and sportsmen from across the globe will be using 'Made in India' portable toilets to relieve themselves.
Sintex, a leading Indian plastic products manufacturer, has joined hands with British firm Poly John International Limited to produce portable toilets and then send them to Beijing via the sea route for use during the mega sports event in August 2008.
"We have joined hands with Sintex as they are the most reliable brand in India. The portable toilets will be manufactured in India and will be transported to Beijing," said Bob Macrae, international sales director of Poly John.
"The benefit of manufacturing it in India along with an Indian company is immense. First, we will get the desired quality, the people here speak the same language as we (English), and the cost of shipment from India to China is much lesser," Macrae told IANS.
Macrae, who was in New Delhi to participate in the World Toilet Summit, said the portable toilet could withstand any harsh climatic condition and could be handled by two people.
"At least 100 people can use it at a stretch before the tank needs to be vacuumed. A vacuum cleaner can do the job and the toilet does not smell foul like conventional ones," he explained as he showed one manufactured by Sintex that had been displayed at the summit venue.
The over seven feet tall portable toilet weighs around 80 kg and its width is nearly four feet. The cost of one toilet is $600 (nearly Rs.24,000).
"We have supplied it to the Athens and Barcelona Olympics earlier but this time the 'Made in India' stuff will go to Beijing. We are in touch with some of the organisers of the Olympics about its maintenance part.
"We (Sintex and Poly John) are expecting to send over 3,000 toilets from India," he said.
Prashant Trivedi, deputy general manager (projects) of Sintex, said: "This partnership will strengthen our capability. The next year's Olympics is a good chance for us to showcase our efficiency in the international arena.
"The best part of this toilet is, it can be fixed and unfixed in an hour and shifted to another sports venue without any difficulty. Our factory in Ahmedabad and Kalol (both in Gujarat) will manufacture them.
"Moreover, shipment cost from India to China is at least four times lesser than the manufacturing base Poly John was using earlier. We will transport these toilets from Mumbai with containers having 100 toilet units," Trivedi said.
He said the upcoming Delhi Commonwealth Games could be one of the events when such toilets can be used for sanitation purposes. "It can used in mega religious festivals like Kumbh Mela in India, natural disasters, sports events and even the urban slums of India can use them."
Indo-Asian News Service
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