Hamad Al Badr, Project Engineer in the Roads Projects Department at Ashghal
The initiatives of Public Works Authority (Ashghal) to ensure sustainability and environmental protection have helped reduce over 121,000 tonnes of carbon emission, said an official.
“The practice of recycling at sites also resulted in providing over five million tonnes of recycled materials in Ashghal projects,” said Project Engineer in the Roads Projects Department at Ashghal, Hamad Al Badr.
Speaking in a Qatar TV programme, he said that Ashghal is using recycled materials in large quantity such as treated water for irrigation and used tires for asphalt mixture in addition to harmless building materials are being reused to avoid their sending to landfills.
“To ensure sustainability and environmental protection, it is needed to reduce carbon footprint. We conducted survey at sites to assess the carbon emission and stepped up efforts to reduce as much as possible to serve the purpose of environmental layers at the project,” said Al Badr. He said that Ashghal allocated designated places at the project sites for recycling materials which supported strongly in resource management.
“The practice provided recycled materials and helped in avoiding transportation of materials from one place to other preserving the environment,” said Al Badr.
Sustainability in construction is measured by assessing the performance of social, environmental and economic principles as the targeted outcomes associated with a circular economy and net-zero emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases.
“Ashghal has a complete team to ensure sustainability and environmental management. Environmental management is top priority for Ashghal,” said Al Badr.
He said that a number of initiatives have been taken to create healthy competition among contractors in reducing carbon footprints as much as possible.
“Ashghal is creating massive awareness among contractors and community. The Green Award, an annual event, was launched in 2018 to encourage contractors and consultancies to adopt the best practices for environmental and sustainability measures, targeting all aspects including air quality management, ground water recycling, carbon emissions reduction, material recycling, and cost efficiency,” said Al Badr.
Al Badr said that the initiative aims to assess the effectiveness of sustainability management across projects under implementation, and reward companies with outstanding and continuous performance on the projects. “In 2020, Ashghal won the ‘Government Sustainability Initiative’ Award presented by the Qatar Green Building Council (QGBC), a member of the Qatar Foundation. Ashghal won the award for applying best environmental practices in projects implementation works,” said Al Badr. He said that Ashghal launched initiatives in a span of one and two years such as ‘best engineering practice’ to enhance the sprite of sustainable development and environmental management between Ashghal and the contractors.
