The Public Works Authority ‘Ashghal’ has exerted significant efforts to incorporate sustainability in its strategic plan and implemented several initiatives on sites aiming to ensure sustainability and environmental protection, as part of its commitment to play a significant role in contributing to the achievement of Qatar’s strategic objectives and in line with Qatar National Vision 2030.
Eng. Saoud Al Tamimi, Manager of Roads Projects Department at Ashghal said that Ashghal has never ceased to support sustainable and green construction practices and has even mandated their implementation across its projects as it is a shared responsibility to protect the environment inside and outside of Qatar for future generations and benefit from the advantages of these initiatives in preserving available resources and reducing costs in the long term.
Promoting sustainability and recycling is an essential goal within Ashghal’s Corporate Strategy 2018-2022 and all of the efforts employed in this field, not only aim to achieve environmental protection and create a balance between economic growth and environment preservation but also to set the example both locally and regionally and share the knowledge and best practices across all of the sector’s parties.
Eng. Saoud Al-Tamimi also added that many of Ashghal’s notable environmental management and sustainability achievements were internationally recognized and awarded by some of the most prestigious institutions in the sector as a result of the implementation of innovative tools.
Ashghal has established several management systems, programmes and initiatives aimed at engaging all stakeholders from consulting companies, contractors, suppliers, workers and others, and encouraging them to adopt positive environmental practices, create solutions and new methods, and apply them during different stages of project implementation.
To improve environmental performance, Ashghal developed and implemented its Environment and Sustainability Monthly Report (ESMR) in 2019. The ESMR is an innovative tool for accurately monitoring and reporting all construction materials as well carbon impacts and reductions.
The ESMR allowed Ashghal to measure its carbon footprint against the conventional approach and reported a total carbon emissions reduction of 127,158 tonnes (tCO2e) in 2021 in the Roads Projects Department’s projects.
Furthermore, Ashghal established three strategically located construction material Recycling Yards to the North, West and South of the capital city Doha to optimize resource efficiency. These facilities became operational in 2020 for processing and recycling construction waste materials (excavated material, reclaimed asphalt, concrete, and demolition waste) instead of disposing to landfill.
Ashghal’s Recycling Yards reduce the one-way distance for disposal to landfill by 60 km on average, and also the demand for imported construction materials and related embodied carbon footprint.
In addition, Ashghal implemented a Recycling and Sustainability KPI across all its Roads Projects Department’s projects, mandating that completed construction works must include at least 20% recycled material. Ashghal overachieved this KPI with 40.71% and 12,784,148 tonnes of recycled material in 2021.
Among Ashghal’s recycling initiatives, excavated material is processed and treated to meet the quality requirements for use in backfill, subbase, road base and pipe bedding. Demolition and concrete waste are processed to separate its components, steel waste is further recycled and reclaimed gabbro from concrete is used to treat and improve the quality of processed excavated material.
Moreover, reclaimed asphalt from road upgrades is like “Qatar’s topsoil”, it has high recycling value for processing into asphalt mixes for new roads, similar to how traditional topsoil is preserved for rehabilitation. Approved Reclaimed Asphalt Pavement (RAP) mixes are implemented only in Base Courses, and Crumb Rubber Modified Binder (CRMB) asphalt mixes are implemented in the Wearing Course layer.
And to better exploit water resources, dewatering water was used instead of potable water in the projects’ construction works, such as in dust suppression, contributing to the reduction of carbon emissions caused by the supply and transportation of water, as well as preventing the consumption of natural resources. Total 4,800,800 tonnes groundwater were recycled at the Roads Projects Department’s projects in 2021.
It is noteworthy to mention that Ashghal was recognized in 2020 by winning the “Best Government Initiative” Award at QGBC’s (Qatar Green Building Council) annual Sustainability Awards and was shortlisted in the “Best Campaign in the Government Sector” category at IEMA’s Sustainability Impact Awards, for its “Green Award” initiative.
Internationally, the Roads Projects Department’s Local Areas Infrastructure Programme has won the “International Green Apple Environment Award” for the year 2021.
Also, extensive research and testing was done to determine the viability of implementing CRMB asphalt mixes in Qatar’s harsh environment, which yielded an international award-winning scientific paper on the subject at CIC 2020.
As part of its efforts to promote a culture of sustainability and environmental best practices, Ashghal launched the in 2018, “The Green Award” Initiative to encourage contractors and consultancies in construction stage to adopt the best practices for environmental & sustainability measures, targeting all aspects including air quality management, ground water recycling, carbon emissions reduction, material recycling, and cost efficiency.