The world's largest project to reclaim ground that used to be a landfill is 75 per cent complete, the firm behind the Sharjah clean-up said.
The remaining work will be finished by December 2008, said Emirates Environmental Technology (EET), a provider of waste services, which is implementing the project on behalf of Sharjah Municipality.
The project aims to increase useable land in the emirate, allowing developers to construct shopping malls, hospitals, hotels and residential complexes in an area that used to be a waste dump but has since been cleared of all environmental hazards, EET said.
The area that has already been cleaned is now being prepared for the construction of preliminary infrastructure, such as roads and highways.
In total, the landfill project includes excavation of approximately seven million cubic metres of waste. A team of eight engineers and more than 250 people is responsible for the project. Two sorting lines and more than 33 pieces of mobile mechanical equipment have also been deployed.
EET has partnered with Austria's IUT Group for the clean-up project.
"The Austrian Government is interested in getting carbon credits from this project, and we will aim to leverage our partnership with both Sharjah Municipality and the IUT Group to further the achievements," said Tania Afram, chief commercial officer, EET.
The municipality has also entrusted EET with the management of a new landfill in the Al Sajja area with a modern cell for dumping waste in accordance with European standards. Upon completion in 2009, the landfill will receive and manage more than 4,000 tonnes of solid waste per day.
By Emirates Today Staff
© Emirates Today 2007
