DUBAI, 2 April 2007 — Municipality officials in Dubai yesterday announced that the civic body was to construct a 1.5 billion-dirham sewage treatment plant in Jebel Ali and had signed contracts with local contractor Al-Ahmadiah-Aktor LLC and Aktor SA, a Greek construction company.
The contract was signed in a ceremony held yesterday at municipality premises. The event was attended by Sheikh Hashr ibn Maktoum Al-Maktoum, director of the Dubai Information Department, Hussain Nasser Lootah, acting director general of Dubai Municipality, and Dimitris Kallitsantsis, managing director of Aktor SA.
Lootah said the contract constitutes the first phase of the new Jabel Ali Sewage Treatment Plant (STP), which has a projected capacity of 1.1 million cubic meters per day. This capacity will be built up over a number of phases that will be sized and programmed to suit the growth in wastewater flows produced by the ongoing and future developments of Dubai.
The new plant will be constructed on a 675-hectare desert site located southeast of the Jebel Ali Free Zone.
“This contract follows a comprehensive, two-year review of wastewater treatment technology and process design undertaken by the global environmental consultant, MWH, on behalf of the Drainage and Irrigation Department,” Lootah said.
He noted that the main objective of the project is to provide Dubai with the best sustainable, environmental and economical wastewater and sludge treatment solution to supplement the existing treatment plant at Al-Awir in meeting present and future treatment requirements.
“Key to meeting future requirements is the flexibility to keep pace with the dramatic population growth anticipated for Dubai over the next 25 years. To this end, the new STP has been designed to incorporate sustainable reuse of both final effluent, through municipal and agricultural irrigation systems, and sludge as a soil conditioner or fertilizer. Extensive odor control measures are also included to ensure low environmental impact principally with no odor nuisance,” Lootah said.
