Contracts signed for waste disposal plant

Staff Reporter - Gulf Times

WORK is to start in about 45 days to set up a state-of-the-art solid waste management facility near Mesaieed. The project will be completed within three years. This was stated yesterday by Chua Chee Wui, CEO of Keppel Integrated Engineering of Singapore, which had signed two contracts worth QR3.9bn with Qatar's Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Agriculture.

The deals were signed yesterday by MMAA Minister HE Sheikh Abdulrahman bin Khalifa bin Abdulaziz al-Thani, and Lim Chee Onn, executive chairman of Keppel Corporation, at a function at the ministry.

The signing ceremony was also attended by Yaacob Ibrahim, Singapore's Minister for the Environment and Water Resources.

Abdulrahman said the contracts marked “a new milestone in the excellent relations” between the two countries.

“This vital project is considered one of the many prestigious special projects that symbolise the visions and aspirations” of HH the Emir and the Heir Apparent, he said.
The two contracts, of about equal value, are for the engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) of an integrated solid waste management facility in Qatar, and the operation and maintenance of this facility for 20 years.

The contracts will be undertaken by Keppel Seghers, a wholly owned subsidiary of KIE.
Yaacob said “this project is the largest environmental engineering undertaking that a Singaporean company has won in the international market. I hope that this significant project will also help strengthen the strong and warm relationship which Singapore enjoys with Qatar.

“The landmark contracts are a showcase of the successful public-private partnership between the National Environment Agency (NEA) and Keppel to bring Singapore's proven environmental technology and technical-cum-operational expertise to the highly competitive global market place”.

NEA of Singapore, a statutory board under the Ministry of Environment and Water Resources, is Keppel Seghers' strategic partner in this project.

The contracts reflect Qatar's vision to look ahead, remarked CEO Chua Chee Wui. “Waste management is a key issue in a country's development.”

Under the contract, Keppel Seghers will design and build four waste transfer stations and one integrated domestic solid waste management centre (DSWMC) to handle and treat domestic solid waste for the whole of Qatar.

Designed to treat an initial capacity of more than 1,550 tonnes of waste a day, the DSWMC will comprise waste sorting and recycling facilities, landfill, composting plant and a 1000 tonne a day waste-to-energy (WTE) incineration plant.

The WTE plant using Keppel Seghers' water-cooled grate technology is the heart of the integrated waste treatment facility, Chua Chee Wui said.

Other Keppel Seghers technologies to be deployed in the DSWMC include the Danodrum system for recycling and pre-treatment of waste, the Rotary Atomiser semi-dry system for flue gas treatment and the Unibrane membrane bioreactor system for waste water treatment.

Through its in-house research and development capabilities as well as strategic alliances with global research institutes, KIE is continuously upgrading its technology offerings to its customers and adapting its solutions to suit local conditions and purposes, he said.

The waste management centre is expected to be operational by 2009. This will be the first such integrated facility in the Middle East, and one of few in the world.

Chua Chee Wui said Keppel would continue to tap the vast opportunities in the Middle East to secure more projects. “We will leverage our established track record in offering both our water and thermal waste treatment solutions to clients in this region”.
Keppel would also bid for domestic waste collection project in Qatar when it is offered to the private sector, Chua added.

Also present on the occasion were Hadi J al-Benaidy, Ahmed Jaber Soroor, Waled al-Mana, Khalid al-Hammadi, Safer al-Shafie, A R al-Buainain and Khalid A R al-Sadd.