By Ir Jack LAW 
On 9 July 2005, the Hong Kong Waste Management Association and the CV Division jointly organised a technical visit to the Dongguan Sewage Treatment Plant and a technical meeting with the Dongguan Environmental Protection Bureau, with 37 members joining the visit.

The Dongguan Sewage Treatment Plant, operated by the Dongguan City Planning Bureau, is the largest secondary treatment plant with an unique excrement treatment station in town. Its master plan is designed for a domestic waste treatment capacity of 400,000 cu m sewage per day and divided into three phases of construction to serve a population of around 500,000 and an area of around 63 sq km. The plant has titled with honour the Sewage Treatment Plant of Urban Area in the year 2004. This project cost RMB 600 million.

During the visit, Mr Wang, the Sewage Treatment Plant Manager, delivered a briefing on the treatment process and layout of the sewage treatment plant. Phase One of the sewage treatment plant, with a daily sewage treatment capacity of 100,000 cu m, is an A-O oxidation ditch treatment process and has been put into service since June 2002. Phase Two of the sewage treatment plant, with a daily sewage treatment capacity of 100,000 cu m, is a modify oxidation ditch treatment process (AAO process) and started operation in August 2004. The treatment capacity of the excrement treatment station is 150 tonnes per day.

After lunch, members had a meeting with the Dongguan Environmental Protection Bureau for a briefing on the recent planning and development of environmental protection measures. Mr Lai, Deputy Director of Dongguan Environmental Protection Bureau, presented an informative overview of the sewage treatment plant as well as solid waste treatment work in Dongguan. There are 36 sewage treatment plants that need to be constructed and put into service before 2007. All sewage treatment plants are using Build-Operate-Transfer (BOT) type approaches. More than 400 tenders bid for these 36 BOT projects. All of them are domestic companies, though they are also open to international companies. 

The visit ended with an interactive question and answer session. Souvenirs were presented to the Deputy Director of the Dongguan EPB. We would like to express our gratitude to the CV Division for their kind hospitality in jointly arranging this visit.