Dubai: Dubai Municipality has acquired a sophisticated boat to clean Dubai Creek, Dubai Water Canal and water bodies in the city.
The latest addition to the municipality’s marine cleaning equipment comes following the opening of Dubai Canal, Dubai Wharf and other marine developments.
The new vessel will be put into service by early next year, raising the number of vessels in the municipality’s marine equipment fleet to 13, which vary in size and volume. The new vessel has the capacity to collect waste floating on the water surface of the Creek, and is equipped with scrapers with a sophisticated advanced hydraulic system.
Abdul Majeed Saifaie, director of Waste Management Department, said the fact that the design of the marine scraper has some of the specifications that increase the operational efficiency rate was taken into account while selecting the vessel.
“We aim to provide all marine equipment with the most advanced technologies in order to reduce human intervention in the sea clean-up operation of the scrapers. It has an added specification of remote control devices, as we are always striving to introduce innovative ideas and development in all waste management projects,” he said.
Over the last five years the municipality has deployed a 44-foot-long marine scraper with an estimated capacity of 3 tonnes, to clean up floating waste in small-space sites.
“This is part of an effort towards turning our focus to the future through optimal resource planning and how to employ them to meet the future needs of equipment and mechanisms for clean water canals and creeks,” said Sifai.
Yaqoub Mohammad Al Ali, head of Specialised Cleaning Section, said the Creek is a vital artery as well as an important commercial and tourist channel.
“Recently the Dubai Creek area has been increased as a result of the expansion of its length and the establishment of the new Wharf Deira. Therefore, it was necessary to increase our fleet to cope with the expansion as the distance of Dubai Creek, which extends from Al Jaddaf until Ras Al Khor area, which is about 14 kilometres with the addition of the new Dubai Water Canal,” he said.
He added that the waste management department has managed to recover 4,267 tonnes of floating waste from the Creek in the last couple of years.
