@ywtohI think you may be on the wrong track with the cruise ship idea. Most will have some form of on board STP and discharge the treated effluent out at sea away from the coast. The Port itself was also built with an integrated 2000 m3/d WWTP.
The Sihanoukville Port Authority is also responsible for the Sihanoukville Special Economic Zone. Although initially funded by the Japanese, this area is now a major part of the China Belt and Road, with the establishment of a free trade agreement. 90% of the businesses and migrant workers are now of Chinese origin. Will continual investment in the ports, shipping is set to double by 2023, having already grown significantly. The result is that the growth in population, and visitors and lax supervisory laws have left a big mess. There is a lack of sanitation and rubbish collection and much of it is ending up in the streets and ocean.
I am not really sure of the links to any Chinese companies. The local partner Xwater Technology Co., Ltd is seemingly run by Cambodians and are based in the Cambodian capital Phnom Penh. Had the local partner been a Chinese firm and been based in Sihanoukville, I would have been more inclined to believe there was some influence from the SoE's in China. Cambodia to me seems more like the SUBRE projects in Jamaica, it is just a coincidence that there is a lot of Chinese money in Sihanoukville. However, as the Cambodian Government is heavily reliant on Chinese investment, the fact that Fluence has a lot of projects in multiple regions of China and are manufactured in China will be seen as a plus, where in somewhere like the US, it may not be such a good selling point. Large WWTP's are actually a new concept in Cambodia, up until 2014, there were only 3 operational municipal WWTPs that were operational in the entire country, with 25 provinces and a population over 15 million. Investment is increasing and the number of plants rising, but for both freshwater and wastewater infrastructure there is a lot of future opportunity, and it is a big focus of government investment planning. Successful installation of SUBRE plants under this contract will inevitably lead to future opportunities in the rest of Cambodia. The Sihanoukvlle Port area is deemed one of the most critical economic regions in the country, so the government is watching closely.
Decentralized treatment is also more efficient as local infrastructure is poor and prone to congestion issues and with hilly terrain is difficult to pump wastewater to central locations.
2016 there were only 3 operational plants (yellow stars) in the whole of Cambodia.
Existing WWTP in Sihanoukville only serviced part of the region with 30,000 people covered.
Using old technology, it takes up a massive area, with a footprint of around 600m x 200m
Due to flooding and clogging of pipes and waterways due to rubbish, it isn't efficient to pump sewage to a central location.
Very ambitious targets to get from 30% rural sanitation coverage to 100% in 5 years time. Very unlikely to actually happen as infrastructure investment and O&M will be massive for a country with no history in being able to manage multiple large scale plants.
