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Exclusive | Towngas eyes waste-to-energy projects in Greater Bay Area as China pushes for environmentally friendly development

  • Towngas plans to expand its presence in the Greater Bay Area’s water supply, waste water treatment, municipal waste processing and waste-to-energy businesses
  • Plans are under way to move into the waste-to-energy business in Changzhou and expand current operations in Suzhou

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Towngas made its maiden investment in water services in the Greater Bay Area in October 2018, paying 550 million yuan (US$78.6 million) for a 26 per cent stake in Foshan Water Environmental Protection. Photo: Handout
Eric Ng
After making its first foray into the mainland three decades ago, Hong Kong and China Gas (Towngas) is again seeking opportunities – but this time in the Greater Bay Area and in fields outside its core gas distribution business.
The company, which dominates the city’s piped gas industry and has invested in five city-gas distribution projects in Shenzhen, Guangzhou, Zhongshan and Foshan, plans to expand its presence in the bay area’s water supply, waste water treatment, municipal waste processing and waste-to-energy businesses.

“In 1997, the mainland Pearl River Delta cities’ gross domestic product was only one-third that of Hong Kong, and last year, the city’s GDP was one-third that of the other delta cities,” managing director Alfred Chan Wing-kin said in an exclusive interview.

“The labour-intensive, factory-of-the-world, economic model has now given way to innovation-driven industries and more environmentally friendly development … we can leverage our brand recognition and connections built through our city-gas projects to get into these other industries.”

Alfred Chan Wing-kin, managing director of Towngas, says opportunities abound in China. Photo: Xiaomei Chen
Alfred Chan Wing-kin, managing director of Towngas, says opportunities abound in China. Photo: Xiaomei Chen

Chan joined Towngas in 1992 and the group made its first investment in mainland China in 1994, taking a majority stake in a city-gas company in Panyu, one of Guangzhou’s 11 districts. It invested in another gas distribution joint venture in Zhongshan – north of Macau – the following year.

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