UK Firm To Build $505m Sharjah Faciliity

Chinook Science, a UK-based firm won a $505 million contract to build the world’s largest advanced thermal energy-from-waste facility in Sharjah.

The deal was awarded by Bee’ah, a Middle East environmental and waste management company.

Chinook has designed the entire facility and will be responsible for co-ordinating the manufacture, shipping, installation, construction and commissioning of the plant.

The deal is set to create 200 new jobs in the UK in the next two years, and secure an additional 650.

“The Sharjah Project is a major milestone for Chinook Sciences as it means we are now building the world’s largest household waste gasification plant in partnership with one of the most visionary companies in the sector,” said Dr Rifat Chalabi, Chinook Sciences’ group chairman and CEO.

Bee’ah has a current waste diversion rate at its engineered landfills of 55 per cent and the waste-to-energy plant, along with other recycling facilities, will help the firm reach its goal of zero waste at landfill by the first quarter of 2015.

The UAE is grappling with one of the highest per capita waste figures in the world, and companies in the nation are seeking to generate power from waste as part of a drive to monetise a problem that is eating away land.