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US eves $300b enviro-tech market in East Asia
SAN FRANCISCO, June 9: US government officials and some of the country's largest engineering firms are organizing an unprecedented effort to tap a potential 300-billlon-dol lar-plus market in East Asia for environmental cleanup technology, writes AFP.
Proposed projects range from city sewers to high-tech toxic waste disposal facilities and Involve countries such as Taiwan, South Korea, Hong Kong. Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore.
The Involvement of the US government 1s an unprecedented factor," said Lewis Reade. Director-General of the government-sponsored United States-Asla Environmental Partnership." There arc a lot of opportunities here."
The US government Is funding the unique 100 million dollar programme, which begins tn January under the auspices of the US Agency for International Development.
Pacific rim countries have expressed a strong interest In the project, and so far 31 nations have signed up.
Taiwan, for example, has a 6O-year plan to spend 300 billion dollar on pollution control, solid waste management and toxic containment. Hong Kong also plans to spend 2.5 ’ billion dollar over the next 10
years on environment projects.
Assisting US companies In selling their environmental products and services to Asian countries is the goal of the five-year programme, which is expected to award its first contract In the next two months.
The contract will go toward the development of a computer database detailing the
environment needs in Asia, along with what US companies have to offer.
The market is estimated in the next 15 to 20 years in the several hundred billion dollar range for environment type products, said Aziz Mctwally, manager of Pacific basin operations for the Bechtel Environment Inc.
Headquartered in Snn
Francisco, Bcchtcl is the largest environmental engineering firm in the United States, posting 974 million dollar worth of environmental projects in 1990.
There arc several countries, in the Asia-Pacific region that have a lot of need for this kind of service, Mctwally said. "And because the US private sector had to deal with these kind of
problems before and develop technology for that, they arc In excellent shape to capitalize on these opportunities.
Bechtel was awarded a 125 million dollar contract last December to design and construct a 125 million dollar chcmlcal-wastc treatment facility In Hong Kong, the first of its kind in the Pacific rim.
There arc plans to spend a
considerable amount of money ... especially from countries that have in incredible amount of cash... such as the Four Tigers, South Korea, Taiwan, Singapore and Hong Kong, Mctwally said.
An explosion of population and industrial growth along the Pacific rim left many countries In the region with environmental problems that they arc technically unable lo cope with.
For example, only four per cent of the population in India Is served by sewers, Reade said, while only 70 per cent of the solid waste is collected in Manila.
Bangkok, a city the size of Los Angeles, docs not even have a sewer system while Taiwan’s waste dumps are expected to be filled to capacity by the end of the decade.
"Over the last 20 years, the United' Slates has engaged In a broad range of environmental." Reade said. "Wc have engineers who know how to do environmental Impact studies and management programmes." he said.
Both Reade and Mctwally said US companies hold a technical edge over their Japanese and European competitors because of more comprehensive environmental regulations in the United States.