Xianda (Tianjin) Seawater Resources Development Co, a leading environmental engineering firm in Asia, announced Thursday a construction and operation agreement for the first zero-liquid discharge seawater desalination project in China.
The deal takes place during Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak's seven-day visit, which started from Monday, in China. He said at the signing ceremony held in Tianjin on Thursday that this is "an iconic project that makes Malaysians proud."
As one of the eight major business deals signed during the Malaysia-China Economic Summit in 2013, the project was launched in Nangang Industrial Zone in Tianjin in 2014 and developed by Xianda (Tianjin), a wholly owned subsidiary formed by Xianda Resources (Hong Kong) Co, which is under Malaysia-based Xianda Group.
Mah Sau Cheong, chairman and CEO of Xianda Group, said that Nangang is a world-class petrochemical industrial zone that is part of the plan for Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei collaborative development. That regional plan is one of the major development strategies of China.
The Malaysian government is giving full support to the project, as it is representative of Malaysian investment in China and offers a large scale and high-quality technology, Cheng noted.
Following an initial 5.5 billion yuan ($813 million) investment agreement in 2014, this latest agreement comes in the form of a build-own-operate project lasting 50 years. The deal includes government support, pricing and operations, according to the company.
The project will start construction in 2017 and is expected to become operational in 2019. It has a total investment of 15 billion yuan.
The project will help solve Tianjin's long-standing shortage of fresh water, clear a bottleneck in the development of the local petroleum and heavy chemical industries, and develop salt farms and a central new town in the Binhai New Area in Tianjin, according to the company.
Xianda (Tianjin) Seawater Resources Development Co, a leading environmental engineering firm in Asia, announced Thursday a construction and operation agreement for the first zero-liquid discharge seawater desalination project in China.
