After His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, approved the implementation of the Deep Tunnel Sewerage System project, Eng. Hussain Nasser Lootah, Director General of Dubai Municipality, signed a contract awarding Parsons Corporation the project - implemented for the first time in the region - at the cost of AED 12 billion.

The contract was signed at the municipality’s building with the presence of officials and representatives of the company. Lootah signed the contract with Mr. Jaafar Halawi, First Deputy Director of Parsons and Parsons Director in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) for industrial projects.

Lootah said this project is one of the vital and strategic ones as it will cancel, following its completion late 2020, more than 121 sewage pumping stations spread across the city, and the deep tunnels will have a depth of 25-90 meters below the Earth’s surface. 

He pointed out that this project is one of the urban projects; it provides the city of Dubai with a flexible and integrated system and enforces a creative vision and significant evolution in it, specially that it will spare Dubai sewage problems, maintenance works, and other issues for 100 years to come.

As well, the project will contribute to providing the emirate with several entertainment and service places of a global perspective, such as a smart city with a deep strategic vision that clarifies and enforces the vision of H.H. Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum in turning Dubai into a sustainable and environment-friendly city with a sound vision and planning.

He said the expected cost of designing, implementing and operating the project throughout 100 years is around AED 12 billion, noting that the project’s implementation will take 4 years and will be two-phased: the first in Deira area; 2 tunnels will be dug, one in Deira and the other in Bur Dubai so as to transfer sewage flows to the sewage treatment plant in Al Warsan, and the second in Bur Dubai; sewage flows will be transferred to the sewage treatment plant in Jebel Ali.

Additional phases could also be implemented in order to serve the new development zones or link the two regions of Deira and Bur Dubai.

He also said the traditional sewage system in pumping stations and main lines usually requires multiple maintenance and construction works within a period ranging between 5 and 20 years, leading thus to a decaying sewage system infrastructure, odors emission and society discomfort, as well as widespread sewage plants. 

He added that the deep-sewage system, as in other megacities, will reduce current sewage flows and cancel subsidiaries of pumping stations and sewage treatment plants. Hence, there will be no need for tanks to transfer sediments through the city, from substations to the main plants, for treatment and disposal.

This innovative and sustainable system will ensure a lower cost and a long-term solution for sewage problems in the city, will minimize damage caused to the society and the city, and will contribute to transform these places into commercial or public areas in order to make use of them.

Lootah said one of the most important parts of this system’s infrastructure is the deep sewage tunnel which was built for the future and to keep pace with the city’s growing evolution.

He explained that the implementation of the Deep Tunnel Sewerage System is vital to meet urgent growth needs of Dubai residents over 100 years to come, with a lower cost compared to the current traditional system and the sewage main lines.

Given the fact that Deep Tunnel Sewerage System is able to accommodate the expected sewage flows within the framework of sustainable development scenarios and with a lower cost, it ensures flexibility in dealing with new flows or changes in urban development plants, according to Eng. Lootah.

He added that this system’s implementation would pave the way for urban development projects and that sewage sub-lines will be used to absorb sewage flows from existing pumping stations, thus transferring them to the deep-sewage tunnel.

As a result, it would be possible to cancel existing sewage plants and benefit from their locations by transforming them into commercial or residential areas or public gardens.