(Yicai) Feb. 4 -- Wangneng Environment plans to invest CNY1.2 billion (USD173 million) to build a municipal solid waste-to-energy plant in Uzbekistan, a project intended to broaden the Chinese firm’s international footprint amid domestic market saturation.

The plant will be built in the southwestern Bukhara region of the central Asian country, and is designed to process 1,500 tons of a day, Huzhou-based Wangneng announced yesterday. The project has a two-year construction period, a 30-year commercial concession, and will generate revenue mainly from waste disposal fees and electricity sales.

With the Chinese market relatively saturated and highly competitive, the project is expected to create a new source of revenue growth, the company noted. It also represents a key step in aligning with China’s Belt and Road Initiative and could mark another milestone in Wangneng’s overseas expansion, it said.

Launched in late 2013, the BRI is China’s global infrastructure and development strategy aimed at enhancing trade, investment, and connectivity across Asia, Africa, Europe, and beyond through roads, railroads, ports, energy projects, and digital infrastructure.

Wangneng has signed an investment deal with a specialised agency run by Uzbekistan’s National Committee on Ecology and Climate Change, it said, adding that the country is stepping up efforts to improve urban waste management and advance a green transition of its energy mix, and will provide systematic support for relevant investments.

Founded in 1998, the firm has been actively exploring international markets, with Southeast Asia a key focus. It started building a waste-to-energy plant with a daily processing capacity of 600 tons in Vietnam's Thai Binh province last year, and has also won bids for local waste-to-power projects in Thailand and Cambodia.

Wangneng’s shares [SHE: 002034] closed 1.5 percent higher at CNY17.36 (USD2.50) each in Shenzhen today. The stock has gained 9.2 percent since the end of last year.

For the first three quarters of 2025, the company’s net profit climbed 8 percent to CNY551 million (USD79.4 million) from a year earlier, while revenue rose 5 percent to CNY2.6 billion, according to its latest earnings report.

Editor: Tom Litting