Macao Water’s annual profits fall

The city’s sole water distributor Macao Water Supply Company Ltd saw its after-tax profit decrease by 5 percent year-on-year to MOP64.66 million (US$8.1 million) for 2016, according to a company press release yesterday.
The company said some 81 percent of its profits for the year were generated from its water supplying business, which reached MOP52.4 million.
Total investment of the firm in the year dropped by 26.5 percent to MOP65.43 million, as compared to MOP89 million one year ago. Investment in the year included the laying and the replacement of the water supply pipeline network.
Annual water consumption was 86.7 million cubic meters, a slight increase of 2.1 percent as compared with 2015. The average daily water consumption, meanwhile, was 237,000 cubic meters.
Of total water consumption, commercial and industrial water use accounted for 50.9 percent, while residential water use represented 42.7 percent and government and municipal water use was 6.4 percent.
The company added that it will start the construction of its Seac Pai Van water treatment plant in the third quarter of the year, expecting the infrastructure will be operational in 2019.
According to the firm, the new treatment plant in Coloane is expected to increase the city’s water supply to 520,000 cubic metres per day from the current 390,000 cubic metres.