France-based transport giant Veolia is taking the Hong Kong tram project as its stepping stone to the mainland.
'Hong Kong is [a] reference for China,' said Bruno Charrade, the new managing director of Hongkong Tramways and head of Veolia Transport China's operations. 'That's strategically why we chose to start in Hong Kong.'
Mr Charrade said there was a trend worldwide to revert to using trams - a more environmentally friendly mode of transport - and the mainland would need trams in future, although it was fast developing metro systems.
Veolia Transport won its first contract in Nanjing in December, taking over operations of bus networks in six cities in Jiangsu and Anhui provinces. The joint venture company runs about 2,900 vehicles and has a workforce of 6,700. It is expected to serve 375 million passengers a year.
The transport company is a division of Veolia Environment, which also has businesses in water, waste and energy management and is listed in Paris and New York.
The group has had a presence in Hong Kong for 15 years, with a company providing environmental services on waste treatment, landfill design and construction. It has about 660 employees.
