Keppelite news

Oil and gas rich Qatar, one of the richest Gulf States, has enjoyed global limelight in another arena recently. Winning international praises for its progress and development, Qatar has demonstrated its rising importance as a growing hub for foreign businesses.

With the rapid development of the Mideast countries, basic infrastructure to support rapid economic growth, especially for water resources management and waste management, has become an important focus.

FIRST INTEGRATED WASTE TREATMENT FACILITY ON TRACK

Keppel Integrated Engineering (KIE) is making steady progress in its execution of the contract that it secured in October 2006 for the Engineering, Procurement and Construction of the first integrated solid waste treatment facility in the Middle East at Qatar.

The foundation stone for the Integrated Domestic Solid Waste Management Centre (DSWMC) was unveiled by Dr Abdulrahman Al Buanain, Consultant to the Minister of Municipal Affairs and Agriculture and Mr Lim Chee Onn, Executive Chairman of Keppel Corporation, in the presence of Guest-of-Honour Mr Lee Hsien Loong, Prime Minister of the Republic of Singapore on 29 November 2006.

The ceremony marked the next milestone since KIE was awarded two contracts amounting to QR3.9 billion (about S$1.7 billion, €0.8 billion) from Qatar’s Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Agriculture on 17 October 2006.

The two contracts, of about equal value, are for the Engineering, Procurement and Construction (EPC) of an integrated solid waste management facility in Qatar, and the Operation and Maintenance of this facility for 20 years. The contracts will be undertaken by Keppel Seghers, a wholly-owned subsidiary of KIE.

Under the EPC Contract, Keppel Seghers will design and build four Waste Transfer Stations and one DSWMC to handle and treat domestic solid waste for the whole of Qatar.

Designed to treat an initial capacity of more than 1,550 tons of waste a day, the DSWMC will comprise waste sorting and recycling facilities, landfill, composting plant and a 1,000 tons per day Waste-to-Energy (WTE) incineration plant. The WTE plant utilising Keppel Seghers’ water-cooled grate technology is the heart of the integrated waste treatment facility.

Other Keppel Seghers’ technologies to be deployed in the DSWMC include the Danodrum system for recycling and pre-treatment of waste, the Rotary Atomiser semi-dry system for flue gas treatment and the Unibrane membrane bioreactor system for wastewater treatment.

The concept of integrated waste management significantly reduces the amount of waste that is sent to landfill, by reducing the amount of waste to be incinerated through composting and recycling, thus extending the expected life of landfills and reducing the amount of land that needs to be set aside for future landfills. In the process, useful resources such as fertilisers and electricity are produced. This presents a sustainable approach to waste management, where the concept of “waste” is replaced by the concept of waste as a “resource”.

Said KIE CEO Mr Chua Chee Wui, “The Qatar Government has shown that they are very forward-looking and recognise the need for a world class sustainable environmental management system that will evolve with Qatar’s economic development.

“Keppel believes in the long term potential of the Qatar market. We are setting up an office in Doha to tap opportunities in the Middle East.”

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