Thanks to cutting-edge technology and quality service, French-based environmental services leader Veolia Environnement has achieved great success around the world.

And through its four subsidiaries - Onyx, Veolia Water, Connex and Dalkia, the company is making a sizable contribution to China's sustainable development.

Onyx Group

Onyx, founded in 1853 and with bases in 34 countries and a workforce of 71,000, is the largest operator handling hazardous waste management and the only one that offers the whole range of waste management services.

The company provides creative and sustainable solutions in municipal solid waste landfilling, incineration, collection, sorting, recycling and transfer, as well as hazardous waste collection and treatment, industrial services and urban cleansing.

Onyx began its operations in Asia in 1992, and has since become the region's largest waste management operator, and the only company providing an integrated approach to waste management in Asia. Onyx leads the Asian market in both waste-to-energy and hazardous waste treatment.

Its regional office is in Beijing and China is home to one third of Onyx Asia's 5,000 employees. Managed turnover in 2004 came to around US$215 million.

As a multinational company, Onyx has reached a number of leading positions in the development of the Chinese mainland's waste management industry:

It is the first foreign firm to be awarded a municipal waste landfill design and operations contract; the first to be contracted for the operations and maintenance of a waste-to-energy plant; the first to participate in an integrated hazardous waste treatment facility; and the first to design, build and operate a landfill gas-to-energy plant.

Its major operations in the Chinese mainland include:

Foshan Municipal Solid Waste Sanitary Landfill,

Guangdong Huizhou Hazardous Waste Treatment Centre,

Guangzhou Likeng Waste-to-Energy Facility

Guangzhou Xingfeng MSW Sanitary Landfill,

Tianjin Integrated Hazardous Waste Treatment Centre,

Shanghai Puxi Jiangqiao Waste-to-Energy Facility,

Shanghai Laogang Municipal Solid Waste Landfill Phase 4,

Hangzhou Tianziling Landfill Gas-To-Energy Plant,

Guangzhou Datianshan and Hangzhou Tianziling landfill gas-to-energy plants

Veolia Water

Veolia Water is a professional global provider of low-cost and high-efficiency urban water supply and waste water treatment services to municipal and industrial customers.

The predecessor of Veolia Water, Compagnie Generale des Eaux (CGE) was founded on December 14, 1853. The CGE Group renamed itself in 1998 and is now Veolia Water, a subsidiary of the Veolia Environnement Group.

Active in Europe and North America, the company is expanding its business scope worldwide, especially in Asia and Latin America. With 68,000 employees in 60 countries and 11 research centres across the globe, it provides high-quality services to more than 100 million users and generated revenues of US$12.8 billion in 2004.

Veolia Water's presence in China began in June 1997 when CGE was granted the first contract of concession by Tianjin Municipality, allowing it to renovate and then operate the Lingzhuang drinkable water station for a period of 20 years.

Since then the company has worked to strengthen its position in the country by securing a number of important contracts:

In July 1998, CGE and its Japanese partner Marubeni won the first BOT (Build, Operate and Transfer) contract for a drinkable water project in Chengdu.

In 2002, CGE won the water supply operation and management contract for Shanghai's Pudong district through international tender, securing a concession period of 50 years.

On December 1, 2002, Veolia Water signed a contract with Zhuhai in Guangdong, for two waste water treatment plants and operational rights for 30 years.

In September 2003, Veolia Water was granted a 20-year contract by the Beijing city government for the Lugouqiao waste water treatment plant.

On December 22, 2003, Veolia Water signed a State-owned shares transfer agreement with Shenzhen Water Corp, with the latter transferring ownership of 45 per cent of its State-owned shares. Veolia Water CGE bought and hold 5 per cent of these shares, with Capital CGE Investment Co Ltd, a joint venture between CGE and Beijing Capital Group, controlling the remaining 40 per cent. It was the biggest foreign capital merger and acquisition in the Chinese mainland in 2003.

In April 2004, Veolia Water signed a contract for a waste water treatment project in Beiyuan, Beijing, a supporting project of the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

On September 1, 2005, Veolia Water was awarded two new management contracts for waste water treatment plants in China. The projects - one in Urumqi, Xinjiang, and another in Handan, Hebei - are worth a total of 340 million euros (US$418 million).

Connex

Connex operates passenger transport services for local, regional, and national authorities running buses, coaches, trains, subway, tramway, trolleys, boats and taxis.

Connex expertise is on the fundamentals of a transport operator, building a transport network and taking into account local environments and the needs of the local population. The company's overall goal is to offer passengers a complete range of transport options and become a comprehensive provider of mobility services.

Connex has a worldwide workforce of 61,300 and has developed operations in 25 countries. Its turnover in 2004 was US$4.7 billion, 63 per cent of which was made outside France - in Europe, Asia, North and South America and the Middle East.

Connex provided transport to 2 billion passengers in 2004 with 21,000 road vehicles and 3,200 rail vehicles.

Dalkia

Dalkia is Europe's leading energy service provider, employing over 43,000 people in 38 countries with global consolidated revenue of US$6.7 billion.

Founded in 1860 in the north of France as a trading company of primary energy, Dalkia has since advanced through several stages of acquisition and merger to become the multi-disciplined energy services company as it is today.

Dalkia's core businesses comprise:

management of district heating and cooling utilities

integrated energy management for commercial and office buildings

industrial utilities supply and cogeneration

Dalkia also provides public lighting management through its wholly owned subsidiary, Citelum.

The Dalkia Group is jointly owned by Veolia Environnement, the world largest environmental services company, and Electricite de France, the world's largest electric power utilities company.

Dalkia, which has a regional office for Asia Pacific in Beijing, aims to help develop China's municipal utilities, especially district heating systems in the north of the country. The company provides assistance in overcoming increasing energy and environmental challenges by bringing in its technical, operational and managerial expertise. The recent nomination of Dalkia's CEO, Olivier Barbaroux, as advisor to the city government of Shenyang, underlines Dalkia's willingness to participate in this field.

Dalkia is also active in Guangdong Province, serving municipal and industrial customers with district cooling and industrial utilities management through Dalkia-GISE Energy Management, a joint venture with the utility unit of Guangzhou Iron & Steel Corp.

Citelum, the urban lighting subsidiary of Dalkia, has provided lighting systems for the Oriental Pearl Tower in Shanghai and the Eiffel Tower in Paris.

(China Daily 09/20/2005 page4)