RTA felicitates winners of Dubai Award for Sustainable Transport

The Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) on Tuesday honoured the winners of the 6th Dubai Award for Sustainable Transport (DAST) 2013, an initiative launched to encourage public and private sectors to help reduce traffic congestion and uphold environment conservation efforts.

Shaikh Maktoum bin Mohammed with Mattar Al Tayer; Sultan Ahmed bin Sulayem, Chairman, DP World; Mohammed Al Muallem, Senior Vice-President and Managing Director, DP World; and other dignitaries during the award ceremony of the Dubai Award for Sustainable Transport at the Dubai International Convention and Exhibition Centre on Tuesday. — KT photo by Shihab

Shaikh Maktoum bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Deputy Ruler of Dubai and Vice-Chairman of the Executive Council, honoured them in a special ceremony at the Rashid Hall of the World Trade Centre.

Following are the categories and winners of the awards:

Mobility Management: Emirates Airlines was adjudged first for its central services in transporting 13,000 employees to and from their workplace on a daily basis, which contributed to easing traffic congestion and demand on public parking. The Department of Transport in Abu Dhabi came second for its programmes and initiatives that contributed to reducing the number of private vehicle work-related trips such as carpooling, flexitimes, employee buses and remote communication technologies.

Safety category: Dubai Ports World (DP World) won in this category for its Safe Driving Programme, which offered external drivers specialised training courses held by DP World’s operations training centre in six languages such as Arabic, Hindi, English, Urdu, Tamil and Malayalam on key traffic rules, including speed limits, driving at pedestrian crossings, enforcing traffic rules, wearing protective personal gear, and many others.

Emirates Transport came second in the category for its initiative on traffic safety and education. Third position was filled by AVIS company for its safety programmes and Technologies (Tool Box Talk, Black/Good Point, Risk Assessment GPS Installation).

Environment Conservation: Emirates Airlines again bagged the first position in the category for its CO2 emissions reduction of ground transport operations initiative that saw the organisation ply 600 buses for its employees and travelers. Second was the Gulf Indian High School for using biodiesel for bus fleet emission reduction instead of fossil fuels, becoming the first school to apply this initiative to reduce harmful emissions. Third prize went to Arabian Automobiles (Rostamani) for its Bodyshop Waste Management System which streamlined the use of paint and implemented paint optimisation initiatives, contributing to reducing waste.

School Transport: Emirates Transport topped for its safe route to school initiative that aimed at enhancing the safety of students of public schools in the UAE without any reports of deaths among students totaling 205,000 on a daily basis for nine months of operation.

Second position went to the General HQ of Sharjah Police for its school bus drivers’ permit initiative where the Sharjah Police adopted a policy for issuing school bus driver permits based on qualifying the standards and requirements relating to the profession, besides providing training programmes for drivers. Al Thameed School for Basic and Secondary Education for Girls got the third prize for its electronic safety marathon initiative, which is an electronic competition programme displayed in an interesting and attractive way that appeals to students.

Disabled Mobility: The Future Centre got the first place for its Increasing Disabled Students Inclusion initiative through providing means capable of easing the mobility integration of special needs students, aside from identifying and experimenting special extracurricular skills. Sharjah Transport came second with its Special Needs Standby Taxi initiative, where it has allocated five franchise-company operated taxi cabs for special needs available on demand from its call centre.

A special awards category was given to Bassam Abu Hijla and Arqafan Nick for the Best Academic Research on the economic and environmental benefits of using hybrid taxis in Dubai. Their research highlighted the potential environmental and economic impacts of converting taxi cabs operating in Dubai to electricity/fuel powered vehicles that will reduce carbon emissions and rationalise fuel consumption.

The award ceremony ended with Mattar Al Tayer, Chairman of the Board and Executive Director of the RTA, presenting a trophy to Shaikh Maktoum bin Mohammed in recognition for his continuous support to RTA and patronage of the 6th DAST.

Mohammed Abubakar Alhashimi, expert strategic planning department, RTA’s Strategy and Corporate Governance, told Khaleej Times that the DAST was launched in 2008 to promote sustainability among companies and be part of the RTA vision.-lily@khaleejtimes.com