Ashghal: Recycling of asphalt materials in road projects

The Public Works Authority ‘Ashghal’ has organized the Fourth Road Workshop entitled "Recycling in Road Projects" at its headquarters under the patronage of His Excellency the President of Ashghal, in cooperation with the Italian Company "ANAS SPA" for construction.

This workshop is part of PWA efforts to achieve sustainable environment, conservation of natural resources and reduction of project cost. The workshop was attended by H.E Eng. Saad bin Ahmed Al-Muhannadi, President of Ashghal, Eng. Abdullah Hamad Al Attiyah, Assistant President, Affairs Directors, and a large number of representatives of construction companies and consulting companies, as well as governmental, research and academic experts.

The Fourth Road Workshop included the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding between the Public Works Authority and the American National Center for Asphalt Technology (NCAT), with the objective of obtaining the necessary training and workshops for recycling workers, as well as cooperation in research and knowledge exchange on the latest recycling technologies. H.E Dr. Eng. Saad Al Muhannadi, President of Ashghal, said that by the end of 2017, the Authority had launched an initiative to use recycled materials in Ashghal projects, in line with Qatar National Vision 2030 and the National Development Strategy 2017-2022.

The initiative was kicked off in January under the supervision of the Ashghal Research and Development Center under the Quality and Safety Department, to use recycled asphalt in the Izghawa Area as part of a road maintenance project. He added: "Projects in the country need about 2 million tons per month of aggregates, most of which are obtained through imports, while there are about 80 million tons of construction and drilling waste at the Rawdat Rashed landfill, which is an environmental and logistic challenge in the country. In cooperation with the Ministry of Municipality and the Environment, Ashghal took the first step to take advantage of these wastes in the projects after recycling process. This is in addition to cooperating with Qatar Company for Raw Materials to optimize the use of available resources.

Ashghal is also working on another pilot project in the coming period for the use of recycled materials from the construction waste at the Rawdat Rashed landfill in a local road project. Asphalt recycling initiatives and their use in Ashghal projects contribute to the direct reduction in the cost of construction materials from rubble and bitumen, up to 17%, without the cost of indirect costs such as import, transport and other costs. Eng. Khalid Al-Emadi, Manager of Quality and Safety Department in Ashghal, said that this workshop comes within the initiative of the Public Works Authority to recycle its project materials in general and to recycle asphalt layers as well as construction waste and to use iron slag, tires, and other materials in the implementation of its projects in particular.

Eng. Al-Emadi continued: "We would like to emphasize that Ashghal, in cooperation with all its Affairs and Departments, has developed an action plan at the beginning of year 2018 in order to implement effective schemes to reduce costs, preserve the environment, and sustain the Authority’s projects; in cooperation with many entities, Ashghal made research studies for the reuse of building materials, which proved their economic and practical feasibility and verified that they are consistent with the requirements of specifications and conditions of the state.

The Quality and Safety Department has incorporated recycling in Qatar Standards QCS2018 in a wider manner in support of these ambitious projects that Ashghal is seeking to implement. A specialized team in the field of material recycling has also been set up from local and international expertise and Ashghal Center for Research and Development has also been equipped with all the advanced equipment needed in this field to support all projects and proposals in this regard. In addition, initial pilot projects are being carried out by Ashghal with the assistance of Al Jaber and Makhlouf Company and Boom Construction Company in different areas of Doha.

For his part, Dr. Othman Al-Hussain, Senior Quality Engineer in Ashghal, said that the Authority's initiative to recycle asphalt materials and reuse them in road works is the first of successful experiments through which Ashghal seeks to achieve one of the most important pillars of the National Strategy 2017-2022 which is Environmental Sustainability. Quality and Safety Department has already successfully started its first experiment in asphalt recycling and using it in re-paving in Izghawa area. In the coming period, the Authority will also recycle the dirt layers by using the demolition waste from Rawdat Rashed in road works in Al Wakra area, in addition to several future projects through which Ashghal will maintain the required quality standards like many foreign countries that succeeded in reducing their projects costs and preserve the environment by using recycled materials.

Dr. Othman Al-Hussain, added that through the cooperation with the US National Center for Asphalt Technology (NCAT), which has significant experience in recycling in the United States of America, a large number of technicians and employees will be trained to achieve the required results and transfer the highest technology in recycling to Qatar.