04 May 2008

Dubai: Al Ain Municipality has signed a contract worth Dh279 million with Sharjah-based Austrian joint venture Emirates Environmental Technology Company (EET)Emirates Environmental Technology Company (EET) to operate a waste management facility.

The facility comprises a sorting plant able to handle 1,200 tonnes of waste per day, EETEET managing director Reinhard Goeschl told Gulf News.

The contract is for 10 years and can be extended.

"The facility has been built by local contractor Neal Energy Company and another Austrian company, Innovation und Technik AG," Goeschl said.

Together with the existing, older sorting plant in Al Ain, the new plant is designed to handle the majority of the produced waste in the Al Ain municipality using the newest environmental techniques and standards.

New contract

Besides Al Ain, EETEET has also won a new contract from Sharjah to operate a recycling facility for construction waste.

This plant is the first and only facility to sort and recycle waste from demolished buildings and debris from construction sites, Goeschl told Gulf News.

The recycling plant has a capacity of 2,000 tonnes per day and will be launched officially in an opening ceremony on May 15 by Sharjah MunicipalitySharjah Municipality.

The contract is worth Dh108 million in the first phase and another Dh42 million for extension in phase two, said Goeschl.

Since 2007, the Austrian company EETEET, together with its local partner Shaikh Mohammad Al Qasimi Holding, is also in charge to dispose of 14,000 tonnes of waste daily in Sharjah, which is the total amount of waste per day produced in this emirate at present.

EETEET is also responsible for a Dh200 million landfill project in Sharjah, which Goeschl said is the largest of its kind in the world and is scheduled to be completed later this year.

According to Goeschl, all emirates have a huge backlog in waste treatment and waste recycling in general and, at the same time, a shortage of available landfill capacity.

Though some emirates, including Dubai, have recently started with waste separation projects, the municipalities are seen in need of sufficient recycling capabilities.

"One of the biggest problems is that the disposal fees for waste in the UAE are far too low and therefore the mindset for waste recycling is underdeveloped," Goeschl said.

By Arno Maierbrugger

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