Macao Water agrees deal for new treatment plant

Artist rendition of the Seac Pai Van Water Treatment Plant

Macao Water, responsible for providing the city’s water supply, has reached a consensus with the MSAR government on the building of the Seac Pai Van Water Treatment Plant in Coloane, the company informed in a statement released yesterday.

The two parties had been negotiating over the terms of the treatment plant for almost three years. This consensus, “marks a significant milestone” in the company’s history of providing water services, claimed Macao Water.

Under the terms of the agreement, Macao Water will be responsible for funding the construction of the Seac Pai Van Water Treatment Plant, while the raw water source will originate from the fourth pipeline to be built jointly by the Macau government and local authorities in Guangdong Province.

Construction work will begin shortly and is expected to be completed by the end of 2019.

When completed, the new water treatment facility will provide a daily production capacity of 130,000 cubic meters of water. This will increase the territory’s total daily water supply to a total of 520,000 cubic meters.

According to Macao Water, this should be sufficient to meet the city’s water demand for the next 10 years as well as “securing the safety and stability of the water supply” in Taipa and Coloane.

Nacky Kuan, the executive director of Macao Water, said that the company was pleased to have finally reached an agreement with the government.

“The Seac Pai Van Water Treatment Plant […] involves a substantial amount of investment that exceeds the investment by far required by the concession contract,” she said. The statement from Macao Water did not specify how much the construction would cost the company.

“Nevertheless, based on the long-term interests of the social development of Macau, and taking into account of various objective factors, we made a reasonable request to the Macau SAR Government to adjust the water service fee moderately to balance the financial burden brought by this mega project.”

The executive director said that in the past decade, Macau’s population has grown by around one-quarter while water consumption is up by 44 percent, “with the islands seeing the most significant growth in water consumption.” Kuan expects the water demand to increase at an annual rate of between 2 and 4 percent in the next few years.

“With the upcoming development of the new reclamation areas, the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge and the various large-scale public and entertainment facilities in the islands, the demand for water in that area will inevitably surge,” she added.