Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Gerard Mestrallet of Suez signed a new private-public partnership for water services with Qingdao, China, in the presence of French President Jacques Chirac and People's Republic of China President Hu Jintao.
The partnership calls for Degrémont to construct a new water treatment plant, and for Qingdao Sino French Water Co., the group's local water concern in the city, to operate the plant for 25 years.
Qingdao is a major coastal city of 2.3 million residents located in Shandong Province. Most notably, the city's dynamic economy is home to Tsingtao breweries and the city will host water sports events in the 2008 Olympic Games.
The city of Qingdao and the Sino-French Water Development Co., set up the joint venture in 2002 when it won the city's first water contract. Today, the Qingdao Sino-French Water Co. operates the two main water treatment plants with a total capacity of 440,000 m3/d, providing 90% of the installed production capacity in Qingdao.
With the new contract, municipal authorities have undertaken to purchase the water produced by the plant under guaranteed conditions in terms of prices and minimum volumes. This third plant for the company, with a capacity of 180,000 m3/d, will generate a total turnover of more than €80 million after it begins operating in early 2006.
