Water facility investment to hit $77b

SINGAPORE--The investment in water facilities in Chinese cities from 2011 to 2015 is estimated to be no less than 500 billion to 600 billion yuan ($77.4 billion to 92.8 billion), a senior expert from China's Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development said here on Wednesday.

Speaking at a business forum on the Chinese water market at the ongoing Singapore International Water Week, Shao Yisheng, vice dean of China Urban Planning and Design Institute, said China has about 4,000 water plants but the technologies used at most of the plants were not advanced.

The water pipe system calls for improvement, too, with over 6 billion cubic meters of water lost as a result of leaks.

About 76.9 percent of the urban waste water was treated.

China has been increasing waste water treatment capacity and tapping into more sources of water, including waste water recycling.

"To have a sustainable water system, we must save water and, at the same time, treate waste water. The waste water should be turned into a resource that can be recycled and reused. The reuse of recycled water will be the fundamental solution to our water problems," he said.

Shao said China will upgrade about 2,000 water plants in the period covered by the country's 12th five-year plan, from 2011 to 2015. They have a combined capacity of treating 64 million cubic meters of water every day. In addition, 2,358 water plants with a combined capacity of producing 40 million cubic meters will be built, in part to meet the demand of growing towns and cities as urbanization speeds up.

China will also upgrade and build a total of 150,000 kilometers of water pipe over the next five years.

Shao also highlighted the demand in waste water collection and treatment, saying that the country will build 150,000 kilometers of water pipe to collect waste water so that the treatment capacity can be fully utilized.

"The international practice is that the investment in waste water treatment is at about the same level as that in the capacity to supply clean water. In China it is way below that," he said.

China faces the challenging task of increasing its sludge treatment capacity, too, Shao added.

The senior expert said there is the need for Chinese cities to boost their capabilities to handle floods, too.

"Flooding happens in many cities when it rains, because our development above the ground by far overtakes the development under ground," he said.

The Chinese water market drew the attention of many at the Singapore International Water Week. Sembcorp, a Singapore-based company, signed MOUs (memorandum of understanding) with its partners in three Chinese cities on Wednesday.