Qassim Sultan, Director General of Dubai Municipality, signed the deal with Sultan Al Mansouri, Chairman of Aqua Engineering, at the municipality headquarters. Also present on the occasion were assistants to the director general and Abbas Tahir, General Manager of Aqua Engineering.

Under the BOT scheme, Aqua Engineering will invest the money for the plant's construction, and transfer ownership to the municipality by the end of a 20-year contract. The date of the contract will start when the construction work is completed and the plant is made ready for operation, which will take 22 months.

Mr Tahir of Aqua Engineering said that the project is viable as analysis showed that by the year 2005, solid waste will increase to 5,000 tonnes a year with the continuing development of Dubai. The recycling project will have the capacity of receiving and sorting 4,000 tonnes of general waste a day, with an option to double the capacity later. According to the latest statistics, general waste in Dubai has reached 3,970 tonnes a day.

The project will reduce waste landfill areas, by reducing the percentage of the waste to landfill, which will be about 21 per cent of the total waste after sorting out the recyclable materials such as paper, plastic, and treating green and organic waste to compost.

The recycling plant is also expected to generate 600 job opportunities, and will also encourage local manufacturing of related products. In addition, the project will generate 8 MWh of electricity, which could be used by the neighbouring projects or fed to the electricity distribution network.

Commenting on this major deal with Aqua Engineering, Mr Sultan said that the project was in line with the municipality's standards in protecting the environment, ensuring pollution-free living amidst the continuous growth and development of Dubai.

In the year 2003, the municipality disposed off a total of 1.5 million tonnes of domestic waste, 5 million tonnes of construction and agricultural waste, and 136 tonnes of medical and hazardous waste.

"Dubai Municipality is responsible for making Dubai pollution-free, and we at the municipality are trying our best to prevent all forms of pollution in the city. As you know Dubai doesn't have big industries which emit huge amounts of pollution. We have installed computers on top of buildings to monitor air pollution. In terms of vehicular pollution, we are cooperating with petroleum companies. We are making Dubai green by planting 50,000 to 60,000 trees in different areas, including Mushrif and Ghusais," he said.

Regarding on the municipality's move to involve the private sector in government projects, Mr Sultan stated: "Dubai Municipality is looking into privatisation. We could have done it (the recycling plant), but no doubt, we believe in the capability of Aqua Engineering so we had entered into an agreement with them. Government departments provide service to residents of different nationalities, and many of these services are carried out through private companies. It is not just an act of privatising as it involves mutual cooperation between both parties and is consequently mutually beneficial."

He pointed out that the municipality had started privatisation of various services some 10 years ago, and that it has been implementing it in various sectors such as cleaning and maintenance. Other emirates are likely to benefit from the project which, according to Mr Sultan, will be safe in both technical and environmental aspects.

Sultan Al Mansouri, Chairman of Aqua Engineering, praised Dubai Municipality's planning, lay-out and greenery projects and its continuing efforts on raising environmental awareness. "We are proud that Dubai Municipality has confidence in us, to award us with this ambitious and very important project," he said.

Although no fixed date was given for the commencement of construction, Mr Tahir stated that work was scheduled to start in July as the company was currently seeking approval from the Dubai Municipality on the construction and the work permits. "We held talks with the municipality as soon as bidding for the project was announced in May 2003, and we are pleased that it has chosen us for the project," he said.