Veolia Water, the Water Division of Veolia Environnement, continues to expand its water production and wastewater treatment activities throughout China. On 1 September 2005, the French water company announced two new management contracts for wastewater treatment plants in China that are worth a total of US$ 340 million. Four weeks later, the company announced a 30-year contract awarded under a public-private partnership to manage the water services for ChangZhou.
The first contract with the city of Urumqi (population of 1.2 million), the capital of the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, consists of the modernization and operation for a 23-year period of the city’s wastewater treatment plant, in partnership with Beijing Capital Group. The plant’s current capacity of 200,000m3 per day will be raised to 400,000m3 per day over the next three years. Total revenue for Veolia Water over the duration of the contract will amount to US$ 280 million.
The second contract, which was awarded by the city of Handan (population of 800,000) in Hebei province (south-west of Beijing), comprises the construction of a new wastewater treatment plant with a capacity of 100,000m3 per day and its operation for 25 years. The treatment processes selected (Multiflo®, Biostyr®, Alizair® pt) employ technologies developed by Veolia Water Systems, the technology solutions subsidiary of Veolia Water, which will also handle the engineering and construction work. Total revenue under this contract will amount to US$ 62 million.
Located in the JiangSu Province some 100km from Shanghai, ChangZhou is a rapidly growing city of 1.2 residents. Total revenue in the contract is expected to amount to more than 800 million euros. Veolia Water formed a partnership with the Hong Kong-based group Citic Pacific to acquire a 49 percent share in the municipal company ChangZhou Tap Water Group. The city of ChangZhou retains the remaining 51 percent.
