Veolia Water was chosen to supply drinking water to 3 million inhabitants of Tianjin, one of China’s fastest growing and important economic cities. The 30-year contract is worth about €2.65 billion for Veolia Water, and involves a 49% stake in the Tianjin Shibei Water Company Ltd. Tianjin, the Port of Beijing and a key city for China, is where the country’s third stock exchange will be built. It includes the largest northern seaport and many industries requiring large amounts of water. Several Olympic sporting events will be hosted by the city.
The contract was signed with the Tianjin Water Works (Group) Co. Ltd., which launched, together with the Municipal Department in charge of State Owned Assets, an international tender for the minority share of its subsidiary’s equity, Tianjin Shibei and its conversion into an Equity Joint Venture. The project will cover the Shibei district of Shibei, the northern part of Tianjin, and the Binhai district on the Eastern coast.
It will include managing the Xinkaihe water production plant (1 million m3/day) which uses classic clarification technology, with 1,988km of linear network, as well as the Jinbin water production plant under construction, which will provide 500,000m3/day. The Jinbin plant will incorporate clarification, ozonation and activated carbon filters. Veolia also will develop a water conveyance network to all industrial areas in the Binhai area, along the coast of Bohai Bay.
The project will run alongside a comprehensive development and reconstruction plan by the Central Government along the River Haihe, eventually be linked up with China’s three other major rivers, the Yangtze, the Yellow and the Huaihe rivers.
In other news, Veolia Water Solutions & Technologies (VWS&T), through its subsidiary SIDEM, was picked to build a new desalination plant in Fujairah Emirate, UAE. The 590,000 m3/day plant will be in Qidfa. Veolia Water’s share of the contract represents €596 million. VWS&T in Poland, part of Krüger A/S, also won a €22 million contract for a sludge incineration plant for Plaszow wastewater treatment plant in Kracow. And the cornerstone of a new partnership between Veolia Environnement and Roland Jourdain, canyousea.com is an interactive website to bring together enthusiasts of yachting, the sea and the environment, as well as involve more people in the planet’s protection.
Field Notes
SINGAPORE: Dow Water Solutions and PUB, Singapore’s national water agency, signed an agreement to test-bed Dow’s next-generation FilmTec membranes for use in water reclamation. The joint research effort, which commenced at PUB’s Bedok NEWater plant in early October, is expected to validate preliminary data indicating Dow’s newer 16-inch FILMTEC membrane modules are more efficient in water reclamation than current standard 8-inch modules.
VIETNAM: A UAT Series BW RO system from Severn Trent Services was selected by Saigon Water Supply Corp. for a new brackish water treatment plant in Can Gio, an outlying coastal district of Ho Chi Min City. The facility, which will help reduce a regional potable water shortage, is being built by Dang Doan Nguyen Joint Stock Co. To be complete by the end of 2007, the new facility represents the largest build/operate/transfer RO project in Vietnam. It will be able to supply over 5,000 m3/day of potable water.
HONGKONG: Black & Veatch was picked by the Water Supplies Department in Hong Kong SAR to assess the condition of water reservoirs and further enhance safety and reliability of reservoir operations. Over the next five years, Black & Veatch will be responsible for making proposals on safety enhancements at 10 impounding reservoirs and 25 large service reservoirs, as well as providing as-needed advisory services on safety issues for all reservoirs.
INDIA: In spring 2008, Herrenknecht will launch an assembly plant for tunneling systems and service in Chennai, India. At a €6 million investment, the German company’s subsidiary Herrenknecht India Pvt. Ltd. will have a 40,000 m2 facility offering modern assembly, steel production and storage capacities. Herrenknecht tunneling technology is part of the subway extension scheme in New Delhi, large water supply and pipeline construction projects.
CHINA: Euro Tech Holdings Co. Ltd. subsidiary, Yixing PACT Environmental Technology Co. Ltd., won contracts worth US$2.4 million by a U.S. aluminum company in Qinhuangdao, China. They cover design, manufacture, supply and commissioning of a 34 m3/hr industrial process water plant and a 45 m3/hr wastewater treatment plant by mid-2008.
AUSTRALIA: Siemens Water Technologies was awarded a AU$4.26 million contract by the Gippsland Water Factory Alliance. It will supply membranes and system components for an MBR system as part of the new water factory project in the Gippsland region of Victoria, Australia. Set for completion in late 2008, the MBR will treat up to 35 MLD of domestic and industrial wastewater, and provide feed for an RO system to produce about 8 MLD of Class A recycled water for use by local industry.
SINGAPORE: The government of Singapore and World Health Organisation (WHO) signed a new partnership agreement to jointly promote safe management of drinking water globally at a ceremony in Stockholm during World Water Week. The collaboration leverages on Singapore’s expertise in development and implementation of approaches to water management and reuse and the WHO’s global role in providing guidance on water safety measures.
INDIA: The Lanxess Chemicals Group will build its new ion exchange resin plant in the Indian state of Gujarat. Construction on the €30 million site at the new Jhagadia Chemical Park near Baroda is set to start in 2008’s second quarter, with production under way in 2010. Focusing on industrial water and ultra-pure projects for the pharmaceutical and semiconductor industries, this is the biggest project undertaken by the firm’s Ion Exchange Resins business unit since the end of the 1990s.
JAPAN: UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon appointed Japanese Crown Prince Naruhito to serve as honorary president of his Advisory Board on Water and Sanitation, formed in 2004. Meanwhile, the Japanese government recently pledged over US$22 million for various water projects in Jordan, Eritrea and Nigeria. A two-year, $6.3 million project in Awajan, Jordan – focused on renovating pipelines and reservoirs – is the second phase of water network upgrades in the district of Zarqa, the first completed in Ruseifa in May. Japan also will underwrite $13.33 million in projects in Eritrea, involving the digging of 27 new drilled wells, installation of 48 water pumps and distribution of 82 water main pipelines, as well as construction of six water tankers with a capacity of 50-700 m3. Nigeria and the Japanese International Cooperation Agency (JICA) signed a $2.46 million contract for rural water supply projects in Yobe state expected to provide 86,000 people with access to potable water via construction of 89 bored wells with hand pumps.
Making Waves Among other recent headlines at www.wwinternational.com, see:
- Medical membranes growing at 5.3% annually – BCC Research
- Beijing airport reuses wastewater with inge ultrafiltration technology
- Expansion RO Project in Saudi Arabia awarded to Doosan
- Bundamba plant begins to produce recycled water in Queensland, via B&V joint venture
- Carollo, Marina Coast Water District partner on seawater intake research project
- DHV signs a 17 million euro water supply contract in Vietnam
- Two Southern Water WWTWs use digital actuation technology supplied by AUMA
- Insituform fosters infiltration prevention across Southern England via Thames Water/WRc
- Foster Wheeler to supply CFB steam generator to Fortum Heat Polska sp. z o.o.
- Cranfield Master’s student awarded Water Engineer of the Year
- Walking high and ‘l’eau’ for WaterAid
- UKWTA: Condensate – a problem that needs addressing?
- Siemens ugrades wastewater treatment at Austria’s Mondi Packaging Frohnleiten GmbH
- ELGA Process Water gives E.ON’s Isle of Grain Power Station a makeover
- AWWA, ANEAS agree to share expertise, resources for improved water supply
- Hydro’s Stormbloc system delivers cost reductions for Cumbrian office development Frost & Sullivan: European Biocidal Products Directive – Is it as simple as it sounds?
- Papirnica Vevce contract in Laibach, Slovenia, signals GAWGroup environmental success
- SUEZ to request voluntary withdrawal of ADRs from NYSE listing
- WaterPartners adds three to board including ‘extreme’ running star
- Kerry Enviro’s rapid response keeps exclusive Irish spa operational with Brawoliner
- Saudi SWCC, ARAMCO to acquire MASAR software licenses
- ‘Market Access: Desalination in China’ - latest report from Research & Markets
- Siemens to supply produced water treatment system at Saudi Aramco’s Safaniya Plant
- Flotech Solutions named UK’s Mobrey Rotameter, Brooks VA Flowmeter distributor
- EBRD approves €34 million for water infrastructure loans in Bosnia, Bulgaria and Romania
- ADB: Asia faces huge environmental clean-up due to inadequate sanitation
- Water scarcity and droughts in Europe: EC addresses key challenge
- Hapman celebrates opening of new India plant
