Bee’ah, the UAE-based leading sustainability pioneer, and the Administrative Capital for Urban Development (ACUD) have officiated Bee’ah’s appointment as the waste management and city cleaning partner for the new Administrative Capital in Egypt at a signing ceremony, marking Bee’ah’s Middle East and North Africa region expansion.

Senior officials present at the ceremony include Bee’ah’s Chairman HE Salim bin Mohamed Al Owais, Bee’ah’s Group CEO HE Khaled Al Huraimel, ACUD Chairman HE Ahmed Zaki Abdeen, ACUD’s CEO Major General Mohamed Abdulatif and ACUD’s Head of Services & Solid Waste Management Sector Major General Adil El-Zmite.

Egypt’s new Administrative Capital is a transformative project and extension of Cairo, as one of the world’s largest urban developments at 500 square km with an expected population of 6.5 million on completion. Designed as a smart and sustainable city of the future, it will also house a new presidential district, government district, diplomatic district, headquarters of the House of Representatives, and 21 residential areas.

Operations at the Administrative Capital will commence next March, with the target of achieving an 80 per cent waste diversion from landfill rate through holistic and integrated waste management solutions in the city.

As the region’s leading pioneer of environmental services, Bee’ah’s ventures aim to instil a sustainable quality of life. Bee’ah’s a zero-waste strategy in the UAE has led to the highest waste diversion rate in the Middle East for Sharjah at 76 per cent, and it is building the Middle East’s first waste-to-energy facility. Its diversified ventures span industries such as renewable energy, sustainable transportation, consultancy and digitalization. Based on its proven successes and reputation in the UAE with notable municipal and commercial contracts, Bee’ah’s has also expanded into the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia this year, where it presently serves 1.2 million people in Madinah City.

HE Salim bin Mohamed Al Owais, Chairman of the Board of Directors at Bee’ah, said of the occasion:

“We are honoured to partner with Egypt’s Administrative Capital for Urban Development. This is an ambitious project that will help ensure the growth and prosperity of the nation, but on a sustainable and technology-driven footing. As we near our original goal to make Sharjah the first zero-waste city in the region by 2021, we are ready to focus on our wider objective to help foster greener communities across the Middle East, and we are proud to serve the Egyptian people.”

Commenting on the occasion HE Major General Adil El-Zmite, ACUD’s Head of Services & Solid Waste Management Sector, said:

“We are delighted to sign a waste management contract in the New Administrative Capital with Bee’ah Group, one of the pioneers in the environmental management and sustainability sectors in the region. This agreement is an important step towards elevating our services and applying international best practices as well as innovative waste management solutions. Our agreement with Bee’ah will allow us to adopt the latest technologies and advanced digital systems to enhance operation efficiency and achieve a high percentage of waste diversion away from landfills. We look forward to further collaboration with our partners to continue to enhance quality of life in communities across Egypt.”

HE Khaled Al Huraimel, Group CEO of Bee’ah, added:

“Bee’ah has an established track record as an environmental services pioneer, founded on the twin pillars of sustainability and digitalisation. We will use these principles to achieve an 80 percent waste diversion rate for the new Administrative Capital through advanced recycling facilities and best-in-class waste management solutions. I am pleased to share that our on-ground preparations to start operations in the new city have continued uninterrupted, and we are ready to help make the Administrative Capital a smart and green city of the future.”

To achieve these ambitious targets, a workforce of over 1,000 will serve an estimated 2 million people in the first phase of the city’s development. The team will utilise WastePro+, the region’s first fully integrated digital solution to track and monitor waste throughout the entire waste cycle in real-time, increasing efficiencies and resource-savings.

Over 400 vehicles will be deployed for city cleaning and waste management including the electric waste collection units. These will be complemented by waste collection vehicles, mobile pest control system, vacuum machines vehicles, rapid response vehicles, and more.

Across the Administrative Capital, Bee’ah is introducing advanced underground bin systems and over 30,000 waste collection points.

Fulfilling its mission to inspire the next generation to make positive changes, the Bee’ah School of Environment (BSOE) will develop awareness and outreach programmes for different segments of society.

Bee’ah Egypt’s facilities include a refuse-derived fuel facility, which can process up to 1,500 tonnes of municipal solid waste daily to generate fuel for cement industries and a Bee’ah Egypt medical waste facility that can process up to six tonnes of medical waste per day. Non-recyclable waste will be disposed of in an engineered landfill with gas monitoring and extraction in full compliance with responsible landfill management.