Black & Veatch reports ongoing progress for Hong Kong water mains program

Hong Kong, SAR, Mar. 9, 2009 -- Black & Veatch, a leading, global engineering, consulting and construction company, today announced that the investigation and design of Stage 4 of the Replacement and Rehabilitation Program of Water Mains in the New Territories of the Hong Kong SAR is making good progress.

"There is a continuing need for large-scale programs of this type around the world, as many cities are relying on aging underground systems to convey their potable water," said Ralph Eberts, Senior Managing Director of Black & Veatch's Asia Pacific water business. "Rehabilitation projects help to ensure the long-term availability and reliability of a community's water supply."

The Replacement and Rehabilitation (R&R) Program of Water Mains in Hong Kong SAR will result in a total of some 3,000 kilometers (km) of water mains rehabilitated or replaced by 2015 at an estimated cost of HK$ 19.2 billion, making it one of the largest pipeline rehabilitation programs in the world.

Among the recent various R&R consultancy agreements that were awarded at the end of November 2008, the largest of these was awarded to Black & Veatch.

This new Black & Veatch agreement, which forms part of Stage 4 of the program, includes the rehabilitation and replacement of more than 400km of water mains in the New Territories of Hong Kong. In terms of pipe length, it is also the largest consultancy agreement awarded for this type of project by the Water Supplies Department. This increases the total length of pipelines that Black & Veatch is responsible for in Hong Kong to more than 1,000km.

"We have been very conversant with various rehabilitation techniques for the aged water mains, and we are very familiar with the New Territories area," said Alan Man, Black & Veatch's business leader in Hong Kong SAR. "This is a significant new project for our Hong Kong business. At the project's peak, we expect to require over 100 resident site staff on the project."

Black & Veatch began working on Stage 1 of the program in 2000, and supervised the largest swagelining operation ever undertaken in Asia. Swagelining is a process that pulls a new, tight-fitting polyethylene pipe inside new or existing pipelines to reduce leaks and restore existing infrastructure. Black & Veatch used this process to rehabilitate approximately 1,800 meters of 700 millimetre (mm) and 800mm diameter water mains situated below the Tolo Highway, one of the most important transportation links between Hong Kong and Mainland China, with minimal disruption to traffic flow.

In 2005, the company secured three out of the four consultancy agreements for Stage 2 of the program; these have included the rehabilitation of five 1,200 to 1,400mm diameter mains located below the heavily trafficked Lion Rock road tunnel.

Black & Veatch is a leading global engineering, consulting and construction company specializing in infrastructure development in energy, water, telecommunications, management consulting, federal and environmental markets. Its global water business provides innovative, technology-based solutions to utilities, governments and industries worldwide.

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