## Pollution Control Equipment

### Overview 

  -------------------------- --------------- --------------- ---------------
                             2005            2006            2007
                                                             (estimated)

  Total Market Size          335             402             462

  Total Local Production     0               0               0

  Total Re-Exports           10              18              20

  Total Imports              345             420             482

  Imports from the U.S.      145             170             195
  -------------------------- --------------- --------------- ---------------

The above statistics are unofficial estimates in millions of US dollars.

Exchange rate US\$1 = 3.673

-   Note: Re-exports indicated where total imports exceed market size

In recent years, the UAE has taken significant steps to protect the
environment. These include: the establishment of the Federal
Environmental Agency (FEA) in 1993; the creation of the Environmental
Agency for Abu Dhabi (EAD) in 1996, the establishment and the full
implementation of the UAE Federal Environmental Law 24 of 1999, the
adoption of programs by municipalities for better environmental
practices, the creation of separate entities by the major industrial
institutions for the protection of the environment, the treatment and
disposal of solid and medical waste, the treatment of wastewater, air
pollution and several other initiatives.

Considering the vast commercial and industrial developments and a
population increase of approximately 10%. The UAE is also one of the
fastest growing electricity industries in the world. Electricity
generation doubled between 1995 and 2003, reaching 50 terawatt/hour
(TWh). The per capita electricity generation, in excess of 12000
kilowatt-hour (kWh) is higher than the OECD average. Natural gas fuels
over 99 percent of total electricity generation, the remainder being
based on oil. Electricity generation in the UAE will continue to
increase rapidly over the current decade, at 5.6 percent per year on
average. Moreover, the UAE is the Middle East and North Africa's
second-largest producer of desalinated water. Fuel requirements for
desalination are expected to raise from 9 million tonnes of oil
equivalent (Mtoe) in 2003 to 16 Mtoe, or nearly one-fifth of total
primary energy demand in 2030.

All of the above puts more demand on the countries resources, thus
requiring the government to invested several billions of US dollars by
the turn of the decade in environmental and pollution control projects.
These projects are linked to the oil and gas industries, conservation of
water and power generation, waste management, land management, air
pollution, and renewable energy.

##### Waste Water Treatment

The UAE production of water is approximately 510 million gallons per day
of which 80 percent is desalinated seawater. An estimated US\$5 billion
will be spent on improving water resources in the coming years because
the need for water in general and desalinated water in particular, will
triple to 713 million gallons per day by the year 2015.

Nearly all of the wastewater in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi is treated and
re-used. The Emirate of Abu Dhabi has formed Abu Dhabi Sewerage Services
Company (ADSSC) with assets valued at US\$2.45 billion was founded in
2005. ADSSCwill be building four treatment plants to handle increasing
volumes of waste from development. ADSSC recently announced the award of
two contracts. One a joint venture of the UK\'s Biwater Group, Kuwait\'s
Mohamed Abdulmohsin Kharafi & Sons and the local Al-Qudra Holding for
two plants. This group will develop the 300,000-cubic-metre-a-day (cm/d)
Al-Wathba plant in Abu Dhabi and the 65,000-cm/d Al-Saad facility in
Al-Ain, under a build-own-operate-transfer contract. A French/Belgian
joint venture of Veolia and Besix has been selected for a further two
plants at Al-Wathba and Al-Saad, with the same capacity. Both groups
will take a 40 per cent stake in project companies, which will then sign
25-year agreements with the government to develop the plants. The
remaining 60 per cent of the project firms will be held indirectly by
Abu Dhabi Water & Electricity Authority. Australia\'s Cardno is advising
Adwea on the technical aspects of the privatisation programme for its
wastewater treatment plants. US law firm Dewey Ballantine and French
bank BNP Paribas are advising on the legal and financial aspects
respectively.

An award is also pending for a program to supervise ADSSC\'s US
\$1.1billion strategic investment program to upgrade Abu Dhabi\'s
sewers. The main component of the program is a 45-kilometre sewer
tunnel, from the northern part of Abu Dhabi island to the mainland. The
tunnel will relieve pressure on the existing system serving Abu Dhabi
island and allow for the eventual removal of existing pumping stations.
It is hoped the scheme will reduce operating costs. Other works planned
as part of the programme involve upgrading treatment plants at Mafraq
and Zakher, and the rehabilitation and upgrading of major trunk sewers
and pumping stations. The entire scheme is expected to take seven years
to complete.

Residents of Abu Dhabi may soon have to pay sewerage charges in addition
to their water and electricity bills to offset the subsidy coming from
the government.

The Drainage and Irrigation Department of Dubai Municipality has sewage
treatment plant in the Aweer area with a capacity for treating 330,000
gallons of sewage water per day used for irrigation of municipal parks
and landscapes. The flow of effluent into this sewage treatment plant is
growning by up to 25 percent a year. It is now handling almost twice its
original design capacity. The burden is also being increased by effluent
trucked to Al-Awir from labour camps accommodating construction workers.
According to Dubai Municipality, no less than 3,000 trucks carrying
untreated sewage arrive in Al-Awir daily. Dubai is budiling
membrane-based water treatment plants to cover the shortage. Residents
of Dubai are paying sewerage charges.

The Emirate of Sharjah has award a US\$540000 turn-key contract for the
construction of a sewage treatment plant at the housing complex within
the Hamriyah Free Zone in Sharjah. This plant will be equipped to treat
all sewage and wastewater within the complex at a capacity of up to 500
c/m of waste per day. The treated water will be later used for
irrigation and landscaping. Residents of Sharjah are paying sewerage
charges.

The emirate of Ajman has constructed US\$140.2 million sewerage, through
a BOT contract with Ajman Sewerage (Pvt) Co. The plant comprises of a
main 49,000cm/day wastewater treatment plant on the outskirts of the
city, a 22 individual and mostly underground pumping stations, and a 250
km pipeline network to connect properties to the system. Ajman
population will be required to pay connection fees to the company for
cost recovery.

Two years ago The Emirates of Fujairah awarded to Tanqia (a local
project developer largely owned by Infrastructure Capital Group and
Mubadala Development Company) a \$150 million contract to build and
operate a sewage treatment plant (STP) and associated network under a
33-year concession. The Fujairah government, which will be paying the
developer a fee for collecting and treating the wastewater, will be
charging the poulation of Fujairah a sewage fee. Tanqia appointed a
German consortium of Bilfinger & Berger and Passavant-Roediger to
undertake the plant and network construction and operate the project. In
phase I includes a central STP of 16,000 cm/d was built to serve 44,000
residents in the concession area, 16 pumping stations and installation
of a 95 kilometers of network. Phase 2 calls for the secondary network
to be extended by 81 kilometres and a further 11 pumping stations. On
completion to 72,000, or 90 per cent of the concession area\'s
population. A further 8,000 people will be linked to the network during
the subsequent operating period. Further ahead, in 2013 the plant\'s
capacity will be raised by another 8,000 cm/d and by the same amount
again in 2027, effectively doubling the plant\'s start-up capacity.

##### Municipal Solid Waste

The UAE generates approximately 561,000 tons per day of solid waste,
which includes household, commercial, industrial, animal, agricultural,
and medical waste.

In 2004, the MSW collected in The Emirate of Abu Dhabi amounted to about
670,000 tones. Abu Dhabi has privatized solid waste treatment and
disposal services. In late 2006 it awarded a 10-year contract worth
\$135 million for the design, construction and operation of a municipal
solid waste management services for the whole of the Emirate to be
completed in a period of 36 months The contractor entered into a 10
years agreement with the Abu Dhabi Municipality to include a MSW
composting facility at the AI Dhafra site, a new sanitary landfill
beside the existing Landfill at Al Dhafra site, a new inert waste
landfill area at the AI Dhafra site, five transfer stations for MSW in
the Western Region on the sites of existing dumpsites, a new sanitary
landfill beside the site of the existing landfill of Ruwais, a green
waste composting facility at the Ruwais site, upgrade of the green waste
composting facilities at Liwa and Ghayathi, and transportation of waste
between the different sites, in particular the transfer stations and the
transfer and sorting facility to the sanitary landfills. The programme
is being overseen by a government committee made up of Abu Dhabi
Municipalities & Agriculture, Mubadala Development Company and the
Environmental Department. The committee\'s consultant is Germany\'s
Fichtner. Collection and transfer of MSW was contracted by The Abu Dhabi
Municipality to private firms.

In 2006, Dubaj government launched Tadweer, a solid waste sorting and
recycling facility, was created as a private sector venture with Dubai
Municipality as a strategic partern. Tadweer is a US\$136 million
recycling facility that will treat 4,000 tones of MSW per day. Tadweer
is considering recycling MSW into renewable energy using new innovative
techniques to supplement the government increasing energy needs, mainly
electricity.

Private waste collection companies accounted for 49% of the General
Waste collected in Dubai in 2003 and 53% in 2004. They are also involved
in collection of construction & demolition (C&D) waste and are the sole
collection service providers for hazardous waste and medical waste.
Organized collection of recyclable material by private companies
commenced in the early 1990s.

In 2005 in the Emirate of Fujairah Municipality collected approximately
50,000 tons of MSW of which 30%-40% are sent to the Fujairah Fertilizers
Factory to be processed into compost and the rest dumped into landfills.
The Fertilizer Factory is a government owned facility established by the
aid of an Italian company in 1986. Fujairha Government announced plans
for a new solid waste composting plant at their STP\'s site. The
facility will use solid waste and sludge generated in the STP to produce
high-quality fertiliser. The sludge will be treated with digesters
developed by Passavant-Roediger to convert the organic mass into methane
gas, water and stabilised sludge. The methane generated will in turn
produce power for the plant, whose primary electricity source will be
the Federal Electricity & Water Authority (FEWA).

Ras Al Khaimah generated 208,050 tons of solid waste in 2004, of which
325 tons are MSW and the rest is C&D Waste, green waste and tires. Ras
Al Khaimah developed the first integrated waste management program for
solid waste disposal in UAE and in the entire region, which is based on
US EPA standards. Collected waste is transferred to a material recovery
facility where all MSW is sorted for recycling and the remaining is sent
to landfill in bales. This has reduced the pollution from the waste
collection vehicles as previously 51 trips of trucks used to go to the
landfill and now only five trucks take the baled waste. The landfill has
a gas recovery system, which started operation since 2000-2001 and meets
all US EPA stringent compliance requirements. The green waste, wood
waste and the C&D waste go to inert waste landfill. Future plans are to
start recycling green waste; wood waste and C&D waste.

In 2006 waste generated in the Emirate of Sharjah was 3000 tons from
municipal solid waste (generated from household sources); 16,000 tons
from construction and demolition waste (CDW); and 1000 tons from
industrial waste. Waste is delivered to Al Saja\'a waste management site
which is operated by Emirates Environmental Technology (EET) Co. LLC,
and The Sharjah Environmental Company (Bee'ah). Al Saja\'a is total
capacity is approximately 25 million cubic meters. The volume of waste
arriving at the site from the Emirate of Sharjah grows by around 14
percent every year.

The Emirate of Umm Al-Qaiwain has signed a contract with a private
company to build a garbage disposal enclosure of an international
standard. The project will be built on a 400m x 600m area and should be
complete soon. 

Abu Dhabi National Oil Co and its group of companies are addressing
vital environmental issues under their new Health Safety and Environment
(HSE) policy and objectives. These include elimination of hydrocarbon
flaring, abolition of continuous venting of hydrocarbon disposal,
optimization of land use and energy resources, and re-injection of
produced water and other effluents. HSE also examines ways to minimize
the use of oil-based muds and the disposal of drilling muds and
cuttings, so as not to contaminate the environment. It also looks at
reducing and controlling solid and other wastes, including treatment and
disposal as per international standards. Most importantly, HSE not only
plans the clean up of oil and chemical spills, but also works to prevent
them.

##### Medical Waste

Approximately 21.5 tons per day of medical waste, including infectious
and non-infectious wastes, are generated in the UAE. This figure is
expected to increase to more than 35 tons per day by 2015 due to the
population growth and the subsequent increase in the number of medical
and healthcare facilities, not only in the urban areas but in rural
areas as well. It is worth mentioning that several new government and
private hospitals are in the pipeline.

A Royal Decree was issued in 2002 on medical waste from medical
facilities in the UAE. The decree calls for a total ban on the disposal
of medical waste in containers not designed for this purpose. It
stipulates that all health centers should separate their medical waste
from other waste material, and then dispose it in specially designed
containers supplied by the municipality

Medical waste in the UAE is simple as it is mainly generated by
hospitals, clinics, pharmacies, drug manufacturing facilities and
laboratories

In Abu Dhabi there are currently only two private companies that
collect, transfer and treat medical waste by non-incineration
techniques. The performance of these companies has been below
international standards and their replacement is imminent. The
Government in Abu Dhabi is investigating the possibility to tender a BOT
contract for contractors to handle medical waste from the collection
stage to treatment and disposal based on international standards using
new approved techniques.

In Dubai there are three private companies that collect waste from
private medical facilities and transfer the waste to Jebel Ali for
incineration at Municipality Facilities. Ministry of Health and Dubai
Department of Medical Services collect and transfer their own medical
waste to the Jebel Ali Facility for disposal. Recently, Dubai
Municipality signed a deal with a local group to build the UAE's first
vertical medical incinerator plant for the safe treatment of medical
waste. The incinerator will be located in Jebel Ali Free Zone area and
will have a treatment capacity of 20 tons per day.

In The Emirate of Sharjah, handling of medical waste is still not 100%
regulated. Sharjah Environmental Company, a limited liability company
that handles all of the Emirate's solid waste, handles medical waste.
The company's treatment/recycling facility will begin operating by the
beginning of 2008, but currently the medical waste is being incinerated
at a municipality facility.

Medical waste in Ajamn, Um Al Quwain, Al fujairah and Ras Al Khameh
Emirates is collected and transferred by private companies to
Municipality incinerators. MOH's hospitals in these Emirates transfer
their own medical waste to municipal incinerators for disposal.

The government has placed certain rules and procedures for medical waste
management, although not endorsed as a federal law. These rules and
procedures require all health installation to dispose any medical waste
in containers prepared for this purpose, to segregate their medical
waste from any other wastes, to sort their medical waste according to
the 6 groups mentioned above, and to pack waste in packages or
containers made for this purpose. Companies in charge of medical waste
transport should be qualified and licensed operators and should pack,
transport and store medical waste according to internationally approved
standards. Licenses for medical facilities are not renewed until they
provide copies of valid contracts for the collections of their medical
waste with listened medical waste transport companies.

##### Air Pollution

Air pollution in the UAE main source is the oil and gas industry,
followed by the power and transportation sectors. Also the UAE has a
relatively high, naturally occurring level of particulate matter in the
air. In the Emirate of Abu Dhabi, EAD is about to complete the third
phase of a four-phases, emirate-wide, air quality monitoring and
management project. So far, it have collected baseline data, analyzed
emissions and dispersion patterns, determined optimal number and
locations of monitoring stations, and are in the process of establishing
the monitoring network. Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC), are in
the process of installing six ambient air quality monitoring stations at
selected locations, and also installing on-line stack monitoring devices
for selected emission sources.\
\
EAD controls emissions to air through pollution permits and inspection
of industries, projects and activities. A model project to introduce
compressed natural gas (CNG) into Abu Dhabi Emirate was started, being
implemented by ADNOC under the supervision of a technical committee
formed by the Executive Council and headed by EAD. Unleaded gasoline was
introduced in the UAE in 2003, and leaded petrol was phased out

The UAE is well known for the construction of building towers. Buildings
that are 15-20 years old are knocked down and replaced by new, taller
ones. Dust resulting from the demolition of old buildings is enormous.
However, the used iron bars are recycled by smelters in order to be
re-used while cement fragments are crushed and treated for re-use in
landfill operations.

The Federal Environment Agency and the General Secretariat of
Municipalities spend millions of dollars annually on environmental
feasibility studies, awareness campaigns and development of human
resources for carrying out environmental missions.

Article 4 of the UAE Federal Environmental Law #24 mandates that the
implementation of any project in the UAE requires an Environmental
Impact Assessment (EIA) to ensure that the project does not adversely
affect the environment. An application for an environmental permit has
to be submitted for any proposed project by the project proponent/owner
to the Environment Agency of Abu Dhabi (EAD), which will decide whether
the project needs a comprehensive EIA, a limited EIA or no EIA. Once it
is decided that an EIA is needed, the project proponent (or his
consultant) has to prepare the EIA scope of work. The latter will be
reviewed by EAD, which approves the project based on the review of the
EIA study report. EAD will also oversee the implementation of the EIA
recommendation. EIAs should be carried out by only pre-qualified
consultants, which has been pre-qualifyied by EAD.

There is minimal local production for environmental protection equipment
and supplies in the UAE. However, water pipes, fertilizers, cement,
paper products, nylon bags, valves, and other items are locally
produced. US manufacturers and exporters enjoy an excellent reputation
for product technology, quality and durability and US market share is
expected to increase. US companies face tough competition from the
Europeans in the UAE, who generally have offices here and travel
frequently to the region. Providing after-sale maintenance services is
essential and US companies are advised to establish a presence in the
UAE to be able to compete. In general, US companies with a manufacturing
presence in the UAE and the GCC are most likely to be able to compete in
the UAE market, given the relatively low cost of production. The UAE
enjoys a free trade market system. An over-the-board custom duty of five
percent applies to all imports with the exception of a few items. There
are no restrictions on foreign exchange and money transfer operations.

### Best Prospects/Services 

The most promising sub-sectors within this sector, with the estimated
2006 Total Market Size of each in millions of US dollars:

Wastewater 266

Solid Waste 138

Medical waste 40

Air pollution 18

### Resources 

\- UAE Federal Environmental Agency:
[http://www.fed.gov.ae/\\](http://www.fed.gov.ae/\)

\- Environmental Agency -- Abu Dhabi: <http://www.ead.ae/>

\- Abu Dhabi Municipality: <http://www.adm.gov.ae/>

\- Dubai Municipality: <http://www.dm.gov.ae/main.html>

\- Sharjah Municipality: <http://www.shjmun.gov.ae/>

\- Ras Al Khaimah Municipality: <http://www.rakmunicipality/>

\- Local market contacts

Commercial Specialist:

Rula Goussous Omeish

P.O. Box 4009

Abu Dhabi, U.A.E.

Tel: 971-2-414 2304; Fax: 971-2-414 2228

E-mail: [*rula.omeish@mail.doc.gov*](mailto:rula.omeish@mail.doc.gov)