The Drainage Services Department of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region government on Thursday awarded another contract of 625 million HK dollars to improve Victoria Harbor's water quality.

The works for upgrading the preliminary treatment to sewage at North Point, Wan Chai East and Central of Hong Kong Island are scheduled for completion at the end of 2014, said the department.

The major works of the new contract, the eighth major one awarded under Hong Kong's Harbor Area Treatment Scheme Stage 2A, include upgrading the inlet sewage pumps, and fine-screen and grit- removal systems, enhancing the deodorisation systems, and landscaping areas of the preliminary treatment works.

The Harbor Area Treatment Scheme is a major infrastructure project in Hong Kong for improving Victoria Harbor's water quality.

Stage 1 of the scheme, begun in late 2001, properly treats about 75 percent of the sewage discharged into the harbor and has significantly improved water quality in the eastern and central parts of the harbor.

Stage 2A will collect the remaining 25 percent of the sewage generated from the northern and southwestern parts of Hong Kong Island, and involves constructing 21 kilometers of sewage tunnels, and expanding and upgrading Stonecutters Island Sewage Treatment Works facilities and related preliminary treatment works on Hong Kong Island.