Oman Environmental Services Holding Company (Be’ah) has laid the groundwork for its waste management contract with Petroleum Development Oman (PDO). It is ready to implement its scope, Times of Oman states.
The OMR17 million contract signed in September 2019 covers all aspects of closing down traditional landfills in PDO’s concession areas and taking over non-hazardous waste management and operations.
Be’ah will install dedicated collection bins of various capacities to segregate organic, plastic, paper, and other waste at the source. The Be’ah fleet will collect this waste to be transported directly to transfer stations and engineered landfills. The waste containers will be regularly cleaned to maintain hygiene.
One of the core strategic objectives of Be’ah is to decommission all traditional dumping sites across Oman as these pose a great risk to environmental and human health. The company will also carry out this duty in the concession areas, which currently have seven traditional dumpsites.
These will be gradually decommissioned and rehabilitated.
Organic waste collected from PDO sites will be converted into biofertilizers for agriculture, putting Be’ah’s push towards sustainable practices and a circular economy into practice. Several local companies will be involved in these operations, thus generating In-Country Value (ICV), boosting the local economy, and enabling a wider range of services at PDO areas.
Commenting on the service contract, Hilal Khalfan AlNoumani, Executive Vice President of Municipal Solid Waste at Be’ah said, “We are happy to have completed all procedures and are ready to start the actual implementation of the contract with PDO. By the end of August 2021 this year, Be’ah will clean and decommission seven traditional landfill sites in PDO’s concession areas. The second phase of the project will commence in early 2022 to take over the collection and transportation of municipal waste in addition to managing and maintaining seven waste collection sites in the concession areas.”
This contract is in line with Be’ah’s mandate under the Royal Decree No. 46/2009, which stipulates that the company shall take over all operations of the waste management sector from other parties.
As part of the company’s efforts to encourage and promote the culture of volunteering among its employees, the Be’ah announced the launch “#YourSpace,” a Volunteer Employee Program.