2010-10-27

Lawmaker doubts sewage plants’ effectiveness

Lawmaker José Pereira Coutinho has questioned the effectiveness of Macau’s five sewage treatment plants and claims that some of the facilities are a waste.
In a recent written interpellations, Coutinho said he has obtained reports that show that many problems have been found in the sewage treatment plants in the cross-border industrial zone, the airport, Coloane, Taipa as well as in the Macau Peninsula.
He asked the Government about the designs of these plants, saying that the current utility rates are “far below” the maximum capacities. He said that the one at the cross-border industrial zone, for example, only reported a utility rate of 10 to 15 percent.
The lawmaker said that the airport sewage treatment facility may not even be necessary since it is located close to the Taipa plant.
Coutinho also criticised the design of the Coloane plant, claiming that it lacks the capacity to treat special waste and had an utility rate of less than 20 percent.
Meanwhile, the bidding price offered by the current operator of the Taipa treatment plant was “surprisingly low” when compared to other bidders, which the lawmaker said was “definitely not enough to provide maintenance and management services to the facility”.
According to the official statistics, Coutinho said the Macau treatment plant received an average of 167,000 cubic metres of sewage per day, of which only 72,400 cubic metres will be treated, while the rest of it will be discharged directly into the sea.
The lawmaker attributed all these problems to the poor design of the sewage treatment plants, aging facilities, the lack of maintenance by operator Engenharia Hidráulica de Macau Limitada, as well as the “close-to-zero” Government supervision.