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EDITOR IN CHIEF- ABDULLAH BIN SALIM AL SHUEILI

Yellow tankers to remain for some more time

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Yellow tankers will continue to ply on Muscat roads for ‘some more time’ amid efforts to connect all areas in the city with sewage network. According to Hussain bin Hassan Abdulhussain, CEO of Haya Water, the tankers collecting sewage are still operational due to many obstacles and challenges in fully networking the sewage system.


Even though he did not specify a time frame for their withdrawal, he said: “The yellow sewage tankers will continue to be in service for some more time.”


He was speaking at the open meeting of Haya Water presided over by Dr Khalid bin Salem al Saidi, Secretary-General of the Council of State and other officials.


Haya Water provides wastewater services through yellow tankers and wastewater networks to more than 75,000 people in Muscat Governorate and around 250,000 in other governorates.


Abdulhussain said there are many challenges for Haya Water in implementing its projects, including typical topography of Muscat with its shallow areas and mountains.


Another major obstacle is the lack of specific corridors for utilities.


“The city was designed without dedicated corridors for utilities and we are facing many difficulties because of deficiency. To bring in the corridors, the trenches are opened, but then other services get affected,” he said. Some of the changes, according to him, are lack of accurate maps showing the path of services.


“Issues such as change of the land use like converting agricultural land to industrial or residential purposes, lack of standardised planning and service bodies also hinder implementation of the projects,” he said.


Some projects are delayed due to the performance of contractors and the local market does not have sufficient number of contractors specialised in complex projects, he said.


Another challenge is non-acceptance of citizens and residents to the existence of construction processes in residential areas and roads along with continuation of urban and residential expansion in the areas where wastewater projects are carried out.


In order to minimise the impact of these obstacles and challenges on the process of implementation of projects and to prevent them from worsening, Haya Water is taking many steps, including continuity of communication with official and civil authorities to follow up on the status of projects in different governorates.


“Haya Water is also extending the scope of its work to cover all the governorates except Dhofar and the need to rectify some of the existing wastewater assets and projects in these governorates,” he said.


At the same time, he said the company seeks to achieve the programme objectives of the wastewater re-use project according to the schedule that was prepared in advance.


He said the Haya Water’s approved master plan takes into account the development resulting from the expansion of cities and the accelerated population growth in the wilayats.


SAMUEL KUTTY


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