As many as eight contracts have been awarded by be’ah — the Sultanate’s solid waste management flagship — for the handling and recycling the mammoth volumes of construction and demolition (C&D) waste being disposed of in landfills, with some quantities also clandestinely ending up in wadis and open spaces much to the detriment of the nation’s pristine appeal.
The contracts will pave the way for the establishment of C&D processing facilities in almost all of the governorates in the Sultanate, according to a key official of be’ah. In conjunction with the roll-out of these construction waste processing centres, be’ah will also introduce a ‘tipping fee’ that waste generators will have to pay for the safe, sustainable and environmentally sound disposal of this waste.
“C&D waste has long posed a major headache for authorities,” said Mohammed al Harthy, Executive Vice President — be’ah. “An estimated 3-5 million tonnes of construction waste is being generated annually in Oman, with part of it being dumped illegally in wadis and open places. We are now moving to address this problem.”
Be’ah defines construction and demolition (C&D) waste as debris generated during the construction, renovation, and demolition of buildings, roads and bridges. C&D waste can be recycled into aggregates and sand, which can be used for non-structural applications, manufacture of interlocks, kerbstones and hollow blocks.
In the wake of a study commissioned by be’ah on options for the safe disposal of construction waste, the state-owned undertaking invited private waste utilities to explore investments in processing facilities in the Sultanate, said Al Harthy.
“Contracts have since gone out to companies in eight different governorates. One is already operational in Batinah North and is processing C&D waste from the Coastal Road Project. The other seven will come on stream during the course of 2018,” he said.
Four of the eight contracts have gone to the local subsidiary of leading Indian waste management utility Tatva, which operates a wide network of hazardous waste management facilities, effluent treatment plants, municipal waste processing plants and landfills in India. The local subsidiary Tatva Environmental Services (TES) is a partnership with Amit Dharamsey Group.
According to a representative of the Oman subsidiary, Tatva is preparing to bring its C&D processing facilities into operation by next March. It entails the installation of special crushers and processing equipment at sites allocated by be’ah in each of the four governorates falling under Tatva’s remit.
“Our responsibility is to receive C&D waste, crush the concrete materials into aggregates of varying specs, segregate any steel, wooden and aluminium materials, and return the commercially useful recycled output back into the supply chain. The remaining waste, which amounts to just of fraction of original volume, is disposed of in landfills,” he said.
Revenues will come from the tipping fee prescribed by be’ah, as well as from the sale of recycled material recovered from the C&D waste. Given the colossal quantities of construction debris being generated every year, the return on investment is expected to be healthy, he noted.
Conrad Prabhu
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