First solar-powered desalination plant to be built in January

A project to build a Dh40-million solar-powered plant that will desalinate sea water will start in January next year, it was announced.

The complex, the first in the Gulf, will take four years to complete. Once the plant is built and tested, the lessons it provides are expected to be applied across the region.

"We will launch the project on January 5. It will be our first innovative project using technology from within the Arab world. The project will be cost-effective once it is operational.

"It will also create new jobs, change the lives of many people and mark the beginning of new investments that will bring changes to the Gulf region," said Dr Abdullah Abdul Aziz Al Najar, president of the Arab Science and Technology Foundation.

However, he did not specify in which emirate the plant would be located.

The project, Al Najar said, was the result of coordinated efforts to create innovative investments by using modern technology.

The foundation's mission is to bring scientists and investors together to help bring about developments to the region by using new technological approaches.

The foundation, which operates throughout the Middle East, intends to shift the region's investments from traditional applications to modern technology.

"We need to diversify investments and bring about changes to the people of this region. The Arab world is rich in natural and human resources.

"We also have modern technology. Why not encourage creative and productive thinking that will bring about changes to our world?"

Investments in the Middle East and North Africa, he said, have traditionally been in fields such as real estate, civil engineering and other services.

"We need our scientists, researchers and investors to come together with new technology to help achieve sustainable development that will be environmentally friendly and serve the people of the region," he said.

Founded in 2000 and based in the University of Sharjah, the Arab Science and Technology Foundation has been advocating the use of renewable energy, non-conventional medical research and investment in new technology.

The foundation has organised 20 conferences, seminars and workshops. It currently supports 11 scientific studies.

The number of investors taking part in the conferences has risen drastically from 35 in 2000 to 1,800 in 2004. It is expected that about 2,000 investors will participate in the conferences and seminars to be held next year.

The foundation is currently sparing no effort to bring clean water, sanitation and improved health conditions to the people of Iraq. There are 400 scientific researchers affiliated to the foundation currently working in Iraq.

"What sets us apart from other organisations working in Iraq is the fact that we are addressing the needs of desperate people where everyone is thinking about post-war Iraq.

"This war is going on and people are desperate now. We need to help them now," Al Najar said.