#长文创作激励计划#
You will be surprised to say that there are nearly 70 million users in our country's tap water market, but 60% of water was once controlled by foreign capital. How exactly do they do it? Why are you so interested in our water business? Will China's water resources be safe in the future?
Once upon a time, whoever owned oil could control the world, but what you don't know is that some people are already quietly deploying another more important strategic resource: drinking water. Humans can survive without oil, but they can't survive without drinking water.
United States Vice President Kamala Harris has said that in the near future, humanity will fight for water. It seems that United States is already actively planning and preparing to gear up.
In fact, our country has many big rivers, and there is no shortage of water, but on a per capita basis, we have become a big country with a shortage of water. According to statistics, 61% of the 665 cities in the country are water-deficient, and 31% are severely water-deficient.
Before the 80s of the last century, our country's tap water was basically managed by the government, but it faced problems such as insufficient funds and aging equipment, so it was targeted by foreign-funded water giants.
Coincidentally, in 2001, when China joined the WTO, when negotiating with United States, United States specifically listed a clause that required us to allow foreign investment to enter the water sector. At that time, many people did not see the essence of the problem, thinking that after they came in, they could effectively solve the problems of aging water equipment and shortage of funds, and also bring advanced management experience. So, the following year, we issued the document and the doors of water affairs were officially opened.
Since then, foreign water giants have flocked to the Chinese market, squeezing their heads in order to quickly break into the Chinese market, even at the expense of high prices, to get a piece of the Chinese market.
For example, in August 2007, France water giant Veolia bought a 45% stake in Lanzhou Water Supply at a high price of 1.7 billion yuan. In October of the same year, it spent 950 million yuan to buy 50% of the shares of Haikou Water. In addition, it also invested nearly 2.2 billion yuan and won 49% of the equity of Tianjin tap water.
Another water giant, SUEZ, a joint venture subsidiary of Sino French Water, invested 800 million yuan to buy a 49% stake in Yangzhou tap water. In addition, the United Kingdom's Thames Water Group is also staking in China, in addition to the above cities, they have also made large-scale acquisitions in Shenzhen, Zunyi, Kunming and other places, and almost every acquisition shows a posture of ambition and self-sacrifice.
In fact, at that time, there were some state-owned enterprises or private enterprises with good qualifications in China, such as Beijing Capital Water, which had acquired Xuzhou tap water, but compared with the foreign giants with deep pockets, our local enterprises were shy and had no way to compete with them.
This premium sweep of foreign water giants has achieved obvious results in a few years, accounting for as much as 60% of the mainland water market, among which Veolia of France has dominated the water supply of more than 50 cities in China, involving more than 70 projects, becoming the largest water group in China.
Especially in large cities, this trend is even more obvious, the proportion of foreign water control is even as high as 70%, Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen, Tianjin, Chengdu these five major cities water supply is controlled by Veolia, Chongqing, Qingdao is controlled by Suez's Sino French Water.
At the beginning, these foreign giants were under the banner of "bringing tap water of Western quality to China", but after arriving in China, they have completely changed into a different appearance.
On the one hand, they give a significant increase in the price of tap water. In China, tap water is actually a public welfare municipal service, but the foreign water giants have brought us a price increase under the guise of marketization, and it is no wonder that the purpose of their coming to China is not to engage in charity, but to make money.
For example, after Kunming tap water was jointly owned by Veolia, the price of water rose three times in four years, and the last price increase increased from 2.65 yuan per cubic meter to 3.45 yuan, an increase of 31%. The same is true for Lanzhou's tap water, which rose in price by 49% within a year of being acquired. Tianjin is even more powerful, and the water price has been raised 8 times in 10 years.
On the other hand, these foreign giants are indifferent to water quality. Take, for example, Veolia, the largest of the bunks, which has had at least 14 incidents of water pollution since 2007. The most typical is the incident of excessive benzene in tap water in Lanzhou that year.
On April 10, 2014, Lanzhou people suddenly noticed that the tap water coming out of the water pipe emitted a pungent smell, and immediately consulted the relevant authorities, but the reply was that "the water quality is normal". But later after testing, it was found that the benzene content in the water exceeded the standard by 20 times, which is tap water, which is simply poisonous water. And the culprit behind it is Veolia.
It was later found that the water supply pipe was old, but Veolia had not replaced and repaired it in time in order to save costs, so that the surrounding sewage containing benzene gradually seeped into the pipe.
It is said that Veolia has found benzene exceeding the standard as early as the evening of April 10, and at this time if the emergency treatment is still too late, because the water from the water plant to the homes of ordinary residents usually takes more than ten hours, but what is infuriating is that Veolia did not inform the public, until everyone found that the tap water smelled wrong, Veolia admitted that 18 hours had passed at this time.
After this series of events, the angry Chinese people finally understood that the foreign water giants came to China not out of kindness, but to make money with a clear conscience, and to put our own source of life in the hands of foreigners, which is not reliable at all.
Fortunately, the departments concerned later took active action and successively formulated a series of laws and regulations to strengthen supervision. At the same time, some of our national enterprises have also actively acquired foreign shares through various means, gradually regaining lost territory. Today, the proportion of foreign investment has dropped to less than 10%.
This is a seemingly calm on the surface, but behind the thrilling struggle, although we have won the battle for tap water, but far from the time to relax our vigilance, the competition for water resources, in the future will only become more intense, we need to always be vigilant.