Ashghal organise site visits to its projects for different segments of the society

The public works authority ’Ashghal’ continues to implement its community outreach programme which aims at promoting awareness about Ashghal’s projects across the country, and to keep different segments of the public informed about the projects’ development stages, the progress made, and the current works on the ground.

As part of this programme, the authority organizes site visits and tours to its projects periodically throughout the year. These site visits include presentations given by project engineers, which explain all of the projects’ details and the benefits they will bring, whether to the expressway network or to the country’s infrastructure. Over the past two months, Ashghal organized a number of these visits as follows: 

Ashghal organised a site visit to the Doha North Sewage Treatment Works (STW) project, in which it invited a number of students from Hamad bin Khalid University, member of Qatar Foundation, as well as a number of faculty members from Qatar Environment and Energy Research Institute of the university. Attendees from the Public Works Authority included Eng. JassimSalmanAl-Sayegh, Design Engineering Advisor at the Infrastructure Affairs, Eng. Rashid ArqoubAl-khaldi, Projects Engineering Advisor at the Drainage Projects Department, Eng. Kevin Richards, Senior Projects Engineer at the Drainage Projects Department, and Eng. Raymond Malik, Design Engineer at the Drainage Networks Design Department.

The visit started with a presentation provided by Eng. Rashid Al-khaldi and Eng. Jassim Al-Sayegh, who explained the project’s details and the progress its making. The students were also briefed about the engineering and construction techniques used in the project implementation, the components and advantages of the new treatment plant and the thermal drying plant, as well as the plants' advanced systems. The students were then accompanied in a tour at the project’s site, where the project engineer explained the current works being implemented on the ground.

It is worth mentioning that Doha North STW uses advanced treatment techniques to produce high quality treated water which can be used in irrigation. The Doha North STW is located in Umm Slal Ali, 25 km to the North of Doha. The first phase of the project includes the construction of the main treatment plant for the reception and treatment of sewage, which has been designed to treat up to 245,000 m3 of sewage per day, serving a projected population of over 900,000 people by the year 2020.

The modern facility features advanced biological treatment processes as well as ultrafiltration, which is an ultra-membrane filtration technique that separates large molecules and small granules from the water. The plant also uses ultra-violet technologies for wastewater treatment. The Doha North STW is the first facility with comprehensive odour control system to minimise the impact on the surrounding environment. The Buffer Zone surrounding the STW will be carefully landscaped to form a lush-green oasis with interconnecting roads and a bird watching lagoon.

The authority also organised in collaboration with Qatar University, a visit to its headquarter,which aimed to introduce the major infrastructure projects carried out by Ashghal to 26 students from the faculty of Management and Economics at Qatar University. The students were received bya number of public relations department officials in Ashghal and Mr. Jaafar Mustafa, infrastructure projects advisor. During the visit the students watched a video explaining the main programmes of the infrastructure projects.At the end of the visit, the authority presented certificates of appreciation to the students participating in the visit, and  received a certificate of appreciation from Qatar University for its continues efforts and collaboration with the university to support the Common objectives between the parties.

In the same context, the authority organised in collaboration with Qatar Leadership Academy, a site visit for the students of the academy to the Lusail Expressway project. Prior to the tour, project engineers gave a presentation that included a detailed explanation about the Lusail Expressway project and its benefits. Students then completed their tour, accompanied by representatives of the Public Relations and Communications Department at Ashghal as well as the project engineers, where they were briefed about the progress made in its implementation on the ground.

It is worth mentioning that Lusail Expressway Project aims to reconstruct and upgrade the existing Lusail Road from the South of the Arch Roundabout to the North Canal Crossing, providing a vital link between Doha City and Lusail City through an advanced network of tunnels, interchanges and bridges. The project includes three major multi-level interchanges, namely: Al Wahda Interchange, Onaiza Interchange, and The Pearl Interchange. The project also includes the construction of roads leading to The Pearl, Katara Cultural Village, Lusail City, the Diplomatic area, and the commercial and residential areas in the neighboring areas.

Lusail Expressway will extend over 5.3 km and will include four lanes in each direction, as well as additional lanes to ease the traffic flow between the interchanges. The project will also include the construction of approximately 3 km of infrastructure tunnels with internal diameters of approximately 3 meters to accommodate electricity cables of 132 kilo volt, and more than 1 km of infrastructure tunnels with internal diameter of 2.5 meters to drain the surface water.

The authority is keen to communicate with all age groups in the society; the site visits it organises are not limited to school students. The authority invited in March 2016 a group of administrators and athletes to Al Wakra Bypass project. The project’s engineer provided an explanation of the project’s importance and showed them the works currently being implemented on the ground.

Al Wakra Bypass project was selected since it is one of the most important Expressway projects that will serve drivers while hosting the activities of the FIFA World Cup 2022 in Qatar. The project will provide connection to Al Wakra Stadium, which is planned to be used during the FIFA World Cup 2022, in addition to being one of the mega projects that achieved a significant progress in the implementation of works recently.

Al Wakra Bypass project is expected to make a remarkable improvement in the flow of traffic; being a vital part of the advanced roads and highways implemented by Ashghal. The authority has made a significant progress in the implementation of Al Wakra Bypass project, notably on the bridges, roads and structures. Works are underway to build two bridges on Al Wukair Road Interchange. Substantial progress has also been made on the construction of the underpasses at Al Wukair Road Interchange and Al Mashaf Road interchange.

Located to the west of Al Wakra, the project comprises the construction of 11 km of new dual carriageway with five two-level grade separated interchanges. The project starts near Al Mashaf Road and runs to Mesaieed Road, forming a main road to Al Wakra city. It will create free flowing traffic connecting Mesaieed and the centre of Doha without the need to travel through Al Wakra City or Al Wakra Road. It will also facilitate access to a number of locations including Hamad International Airport, the New Hamad port, the New Orbital Highway, north-west of Qatar, the east-west corridor, and the industrial area in the south of Doha.

In addition, the authority invited a group of students from Al Ahnaf bin Qais Preparatory School for Boys, to Ashghal’s headquarters, in an aim to introduce them to the authority’s sections, departments, and various projects, enable them to speak with the authority’s officials and engineers, and to review a number of the infrastructure and buildings projects implemented by Ashghal.

During the visit, students met with Eng. Yaser MustafaAl Janahi, Head Of Engineering Business Support, who gave them a general explanation about the roles and responsibilities ofAshghal’s sections and departments, as well as its role in developing Qatar’s infrastructure. That was followed by a meeting with Eng. Ahmad Fathi from the Buildings Projects Department, who briefed the students about the educational buildings projects Ashghal is working on.

Ashghal also invited 26 students from the College of Arts and Sciences at Qatar University to the Fifth Expansion of Doha West Sewage Treatment Works (STW) project site. Engineer Khalid Al Qahtani from Drainage Networks Projects Department at Ashghal, gave a presentation to the students prior to the tour, in which he briefed them about the details and benefits of the project. Students were then accompanied in a tour at the site of the Fifth Expansion of Doha West Sewage Treatment Works (STW) project, were they were given a detailed explanation about the project, and they watched the achieved works so far on the ground.

The Fifth Expansion of the Doha West Sewage Treatment Works aims at increasing the plant’s capacity from 174.5 thousand cubic metres to 280 thousand cubic metres per day. It is worth mentioning that the treatment plant, located exactly in Al Sailiya, began operating with a capacity of around 20 thousand cubic metres per day, and due to the population increase, the plant was expanded several times until its capacity reached about 174.5 thousand cubic metres after the fourth expansion. Currently, the plant receives approximately 200 cubic metres per day. A reception sewage tank terminal with a capacity of up to 50 thousand cubic meters per day was constructed as an alternative to Al Karaanah landfill, which required the implementation of a fifth expansion to increase the plant’s capacity to 280 thousand cubic metres per day. The fifth expansion works include secondary treatment, sludge treatment and drying, tertiary treatment, construction of treated water pumping station, and the construction of a new system to sterlise treated water without affecting the natural environment surrounding the treatment plant.

These visits come as part of Ashghal’s social responsibility and its aim to strengthen the public’s awareness of the authority’s key role in developing the country’s infrastructure.