Dubai’s deep water tunnel project on track
Municipality chief briefs Mohammad on Dh6.5bn infrastructure projects
Dubai: Top officials on Sunday briefed His Highness Shaikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, on infrastructure projects worth Dh6.5 billion.
During a visit to Dubai Municipality, His Highness Shaikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, said providing a high quality of life for citizens is a key priority for the government. The government seeks to develop projects and find creative solutions for achieving the strategic objective of ensuring sustainability and providing services for citizens, residents and visitors that meet the highest international standards. This helps ensure that the UAE remains a development model centred on the happiness of its people.
Shaikh Mohammad said: “The real value of projects is measured by its positive impact on society, and its ability to improve people’s lives and achieve optimal use of resources. We should always be a benchmark for quality of life and for creating a bright future for our people. This requires creative thinking, comprehensive planning and speedy execution.”
Shaikh Mohammad was accompanied by Shaikh Maktoum Bin Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Deputy Ruler of Dubai, Shaikh Ahmad Bin Saeed Al Maktoum, President of Dubai Civil Aviation Authority and Chairman & Chief Executive of Emirates Airline & Group; Shaikh Ahmad Bin Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Chairman of Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum Knowledge Foundation and other high ranking officials.
The projects
During the visit, Dawood Al Hajri, Director General of Dubai Municipality, briefed Shaikh Mohammad about four projects that the municipality is currently implementing at a total cost of Dh6.5 billion. These include the Dubai Deep Tunnel Storm Water System, Waste Management Centre, Dubai Municipality Environmental Satellite and Dubai Traditional Market projects.
The Dubai Deep Tunnel Storm Water System is the first project of its kind in the Middle East that aims to collect and convey groundwater and stormwater runoff, and then store it and direct it to the sea. The project is critical to face the future challenges coming from rains over the next 100 years. The project has a capacity of 110 m3 per minute (6600 tonne per minute), which is double the flow of the Thames River in London. The Dubai Deep Tunnel Storm Water System will drain 40 per cent of the entire area of the city. It will serve the whole of Dubai South, which is home to Dubai’s Al Maktoum Airport and the EXPO 2020.
Shaikh Mohammad was also briefed about the world’s largest single waste-to-energy plant, built on two hectares of land in the Warsan area. The plant will consume the city’s solid, industrial and commercial waste and convert them into electricity. Gases produced by the waste will be burned in order to turn a steam turbine to generate electricity. Incombustible material will be left as recyclable ash, from which useful metals can be extracted for reuse. The gas will be treated with lime and filtered to minimise the release of pollutants during processing.
The plant is set to have thermal transfer efficiency of 29 per cent, the highest percentage of its kind in the world. The first line of the plant will be operational in 2022, with full lines ready by 2023, spanning an area of 55 acres. The plant will have a processing capacity of 1.9 million tonnes a year.
Other projects include the region’s first environmental nanometric satellite named DM SAT1, which is designed to collect and analyse environmental data that will be used to find solutions for increasing pollution in cities and to address climate change. DM SAT1 is a joint project between Dubai Municipality and The Mohammad Bin Rashid Space Centre. The assembling of DM SAT1 is expected to be completed in the first quarter of 2019, and launched by year-end.
Other projects he was briefed about included the development of traditional souqs in the Deira and Bur Dubai areas, which are set to attract 12 million visitors by 2020.
Shaikh Mohammad praised the efforts of the municipality, and the positive outcomes of its projects that will further support the strategic objectives of Dubai.