PARIS, Oct. 11, 2004 (PRNewswire-FirstCall) -- In the presence of French President Jacques Chirac and Mr. Hu Jintao, president of the People's Republic of China, on Oct. 7 Suez chairman and CEO Gerard Mestrallet signed a new public-private partnership agreement for water services with Qingdao local authorities.
The contract provides for the construction and the operation during 25-year of a new drinking water plant. Qingdao Sino French Water Co., which already operates urban water services for over two million people in Qingdao, will handle the plant's operation. Suez' subsidiary Degremont will build the drinking water plant.
A 30-year industrial waste contract in Shanghai
The Group will also be building and operating an incineration plant to treat industrial waste at the SCIP (Shanghai Chemical Industry Park) chemical and industrial facility. This new contract, for an initial period of thirty years, will generate estimated total revenues of 600 million euros [1 euro = US$1.23]. The Group has been active at this site since 2001 when Suez created a joint venture company with SCIP DC (Shanghai Chemical Industrial Park Development Corp.) to manage a 50-year contract for the production of industrial process water and the treatment of all of the Park's industrial effluents.
A partnership agreement with the University of Tongji
In addition, Oct. 11, at the occasion of Chirac's visit to the University of Tongji, Prof. Wan Gang, president of the University of Tongji, and Mestrallet signed a partnership agreement for 2004-2008. Under the agreement Suez will provide scholarships for students studying for their master's degree in "Science and Technologies, Environmental Engineering program: water, soil and waste management and treatment programs" developed by the Franco-Chinese Institute of Engineering and Management (IFCIM) at the University of Tongji in Shanghai. This agreement is part of the partnership developed between the University of Tongji and IFCIM created in 1999 by Paris Tech (an association of leading engineering schools in the Paris region) of which Suez is a founding member. Suez is a member of IFCIM's Supervisory Board and will designate a representative to the Master's Degree Program's Scientific Council.
Mestrallet said "China is an important growth driver for the Group. This country today offers a stable and recurring economic development opportunity. The contracts we just signed are consistent with our profitability criteria and are directly linked to the economic development of the country."
Suez has been active in China, Macao and Hong Kong for over 30 years, where it provides companies and public authorities innovative solutions in Energy and Environment through strong, long-term partnerships lasting 20 to 50 years. This is a high-priority area for Suez, where it generates total annual revenues in excess of 400 million euros. Today, close to 20% of China's urban population (some 250 million people) is being served by water treatment plants designed and built by Degremont.
Since the mid-1980s, Suez also operates drinking water facilities for 16 Chinese municipalities and close to 12 million people. Since that same time, the Group produces and distributes electricity and drinking water and provides waste services management for Macao. Lastly, since the end of the 1980s, the Group operates two of the world's largest and most modern landfills at Hong Kong.
Suez (www.suez.com) is a worldwide industrial and services Group, active in sustainable development, providing companies, municipalities, and individuals innovative solutions in Energy and the Environment.
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