Capacity to treat and process 50 cubic meters of grease and other wastes
Dubai Municipality on Thursday signed an agreement with Al Serkal Group to build and operate a waste treatment plant at Al Aweer.
The agreement was signed by Obeid Salem Al Shamsi, Assistant Director General of Dubai Municipality for Administrative and General Services Affairs and Ahmad Essa Al Serkal, Chairman of Al Serkal Group.
Construction of the plant is slated to begin this month and it will be fully functional by July, with an optimum capacity to treat and process 50 cubic meters of grease and other wastes a day. In its second phase, capacity will be extended to 100 cubic meters. The initial cost of the project is expected to be Dhs8 million.
While the Al Serkal Group will build and operate the facility, Dubai Municipality through its departments of Drainage & Irrigation and Environment will implement rules and regulations, supervise all operations and play an active role in implementing and adhering to safety policies.
"Dubai Municipality believes that private sector has a vital role in the sustainable development of the city. Strategic partnership between public and private sectors will contribute in implementing important projects of international standards," said Al Shamsi.
He added that the Municipality has in the past signed many successful agreements with the private sector in many vital sectors.
Al Shamsi said the new project will contribute in protecting the safety of environment and it will also help in benefiting from the available resources thereby ensure the support to the strategic plan of Dubai Municipality.
He said the new plant will be constructed in accordance with the highest international standards.
"When completed, the plant will be equipped to handle the separation of oils and grease accumulated in grease traps and lift stations, and at food processing companies, restaurants, hotels, hospital kitchens and other service and food related industries," said Al Shamsi.
"These wastes will be collected and transported by trucks to the waste treatment plant, where it will be classified either as hazardous material and sludge, or as recyclable material (re-usable water or oil and dry solids) that will be further treated for future use," he said.
Al Shamsi said the treatment plant will be built and managed by Al Serkal Group, on a 15 year Build Operate Transfer (BOT) agreement with Dubai Municipality.
He added that the new plant will alleviate the pressure on the existing plant at Al Aweer and also will create several job opportunities for those qualified in the field.
Talib AbdulKarim Julfar, Director of Drainage and Irrigation Department said that Dubai has at present three sewage and hazardous waste treatment plants, the Sewage Treatment Plant at Al Aweer, Sewage Treatment Plant at Jebel Ali and the Hazardous Waste Treatment Plant at Jebel Ali.
However, he said that none of these plants are equipped to treat oil and grease waste. "Treatment of these kinds of waste, which always pose a threat to the environment, assumes great significance.
Al Serkal praised the strategic plans of the Dubai government in allowing the private sector to participate in its development, especially in the fields of environment and public health.
"At Al Serkal, waste treatment is one of our prime areas of expertise and our business unit Alserkal Environmental Engineering has more than 300 existing customers and more than 11 years of experience," he said.
"We are inspired and deeply appreciative of Dubai Municipality's gesture in allowing us to partner in this project. In our role as a partner, we will provide suppliers with viable options of delivering liquid waste to the station, and thereafter, we will treat them with the latest, and most environmentally sound technology. A more important aspect of our role is the reduction of solid waste that affects effluents by disposing them safely, and in converting the rest into usable by-products," Al Serkal said.
-Ends-
Ismail Meladi,
Journalist, Media Section,
Public Relations & Organizations Department,
Dubai Municipality,
Post Box No. 67, Dubai, UAE
Ph: 971-4-2064657 (O), 971-50-6341075 (M)
Email: ipparambil@dm.gov.ae
© Press Release 2007
