01 March 2018

Belgian construction group Besix says its consortium with Switzerland-based Hitachi Zosen Inova has been awarded a contract to build one of the world’s largest thermal waste recycling plants in Dubai, UAE, at an investment of €700 million ($869 million).

This ambitious project is a major step in Besix Group’s diversification strategy, positioning it as a partner of choice in achieving the UAE’s environmental protection and sustainable development goals.

As per the deal awarded by Dubai Municipality, Besix will be responsible for the design and execution of the infrastructure works, civil engineering and construction, as well as for the water treatment.

The Belgian group will be working for the first time with Hitachi Zosen Inova, one of the world leaders in thermal waste recovery with over 80 years of experience in the sector. The municipality has also granted the consortium the 30-year contract to operate and maintain the plant.

Besix says this plant will be one of the largest resource recovery facilities in the world. At full capacity, it will convert 5,000 tonnes of solid waste per day into energy, producing 171 MW of electricity per hour, powering around 120,000 homes in the region.

This plant represents a major step forward in environmental protection, with recovery by heat treatment (incineration, co-incineration, pyrolysis and gasification) making it possible to transform waste that cannot be recycled or recovered otherwise into a source of renewable energy, it states.

Over the next six months, the Besix/Hitachi Zosen Inova consortium and its consultants will finalise the design of the project. The construction work will start by mid-2018, with partial delivery planned for the World Expo in 2020, and with the plant reaching its final capacity in 2021.

Besix Group CEO Rik Vandenberghe says: “As a multi-service group operating in the construction and concession sectors in the UAE since many decades, and true to our raison d’être of excelling in creating sustainable solutions for a better world, we are enthusiastic participants in this project that will bring real added value to the Dubai community and improve the quality of life of citizens and their environment.”

“This first and very significant waste-to-energy contract is an important milestone in Besix’s ambition to develop new activities,” he states.

The construction of this power plant reflects the municipality’s objectives of reducing the tipping of municipal waste in favour of developing alternative energy sources.

Following on the Jebel Ali water treatment plant (Dubai), the Hamriyah power and desalination plant (Sharjah) and the Safi water reuse station (Ajman), this project enables Besix Group to make a another major contribution to the sustainable landscape of the UAE.

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