Veolia secures €390m industrial water treatment contracts in China

French water company Veolia Environnement has won two industrial water treatment contracts from Tangshan Iron & Steel (TIS), a subsidiary of Chinese steelmaker Hebei Iron & Steel group, which have a combined value of €390m.

Under the contract, Veolia will build a wastewater treatment facility and will recycle and cool water for a coking plant and a gas-liquefaction plant owned by TIS.

Veolia will also operate the wastewater treatment unit and the water cooling and recycling equipment for 30 years.

The industrial projects in Hebei province are strategically located in a significant economic corridor linking two major regions of north-east and north China.

The plant operations are likely to start in the latter half of 2014.

Veolia claims that the use of its technology will help the two new plants in Tangshan, east China, to reuse 60% of water resources.

Veolia chairman and CEO Antoine Frérot said: "Veolia’s mission and capabilities in the downstream mining industry go beyond the provision of standard water supply to our customers.

"We can indeed provide them with a competitive advantage, by optimising in particular their water management processes.

"We thereby help this prestigious industrial client to better grasp the future of its industry: cleaner and more productive mines and industrial processes, with lower environmental impact and greater economic performance."