30 Nov 2010

Fiji Water to reopen tomorrow

8:11 pm on 30 November 2010

The US company, Fiji Water, says it will reopen its plant tomorrow - less than 48 hours after it closed it over a tax dispute.

In a statement, Fiji Water says following discussions with Fijian officials, the bottling plant will open at 8 am.

It also says the company has agreed to comply with Fiji's new water tax law which from next year imposes a 15 Fiji cent levy per litre.

On Monday, Fiji Water's President John Cochran said the new tax, which was announced last Friday, was untenable and the company had no choice but to close.

The closure came 10 days after the interim regime deported an American executive of Fiji Water, David Roth, for allegedly interfering in Fiji's domestic affairs.

In 2008, the interim government rescinded a 20 cent per litre tax after Fiji Water briefly shut down its plant and put 700 people out of work.