From left: Minister of Municipality H E Dr. Abdullah bin Abdulaziz bin Turki Al Subaie; Minister of Environment and Climate Change H E Sheikh Dr. Faleh bin Nasser bin Ahmed bin Ali Al Thani; Qatar University (QU) Vice-President for Research and Graduate Studies, Dr. Mariam Ali Al Maadeed and Acting Chairman of Suhail Industrial Holding Group Sheikh Ahmed bin Nawaf bin Mubarak Al Thani during a panel discussion at Sheraton Hotel, yesterday.
To achieve the strategic goals of developing a circular economy in the country, the Ministry of Municipality has planned to build a new waste management center to treat over 2,000 tonnes of waste and produce electricity.
The Ministry has also stepped up efforts to involve private sector in a big way in the projects of waste management, recycling and cleaning operation to boost circular economy.
Minister of Municipality HE Dr. Abdullah bin Abdulaziz bin Turki Al Subaie has said that the project to build the new waste management center will be offered to private sector in coming years.
“Under Integrated National Solid Waste Management Programme, we are involving all stakeholders including private sector in implementing the strategic goals of developing circular economy in Qatar,” said the Minister.
The Minister was speaking in a panel discussion on ‘importance of involving the private sector in waste management and recycling projects’ held on the sidelines of 2nd Waste Management Conference & Exhibition–Doha 2022 at Sheraton Hotel.
The panelists include Minister of Environment and Climate Change H E Sheikh Dr. Faleh bin Nasser bin Ahmed bin Ali Al Thani, Qatar University Vice-President for Research and Graduate Studies Dr. Mariam Ali Al Maadeed and Acting Chairman of Suhail Industrial Holding Group Sheikh Ahmed bin Nawaf bin Mubarak Al Thani.
A two-day event concluded yesterday on high note with a large number of participations from senior officials, representatives of regional and international organisations and experts of waste management and recycling sectors.
The Minister of Municipality said that private sector will have greater roles in the coming period, as they will be given more opportunities in waste management and recycling sectors.
The Minister revealed an experiment of providing the opportunity for private sector companies to assign cleaning operations in three municipalities out of eight.
He said that the cleaning operations will be assigned in a way that would enable private companies to invest in providing equipment and workforce for a period of 5 to 7 years stressing that it is a pilot project that will be implemented to all municipalities if it becomes successful.
“The operations of the waste transfer stations from transporting and management have also been completely entrusted to the private sector, which will allow us to rely more on this sector,” said the Minister.
He said that the old dumping grounds will also be rehabilitated and the projects will be offered in future.
The Minister added that lands have been allocated for recycling factories to encourage them in developing this vital sector.
“There are a number of new proposed projects, the most important of which is the new engineering landfill, which was designed at a high level of safety, in addition to assigning cleaning operations to the private sector, waste-to-energy transformation and waste separation plants,” said the Minister.
Regarding legislation, he said that decisions were issued banning single used plastic bags, sorting wastes at source and recycling construction waste.
