The UAE’s Ministry of Climate Change and Environment has signed a public-private partnership (PPP) deal for a solid waste fuel plant in the Northern Emirate of Umm al-Quwain.

The construct and operate contract was awarded to a team of Belgium’s Besix with Finland's Griffin Refineries, with an estimated building cost of AED132m ($36m). Once completed it will produce alternative fuel from solid waste with a maximum daily processing capacity of 1,800 tonnes of solid waste that will be used to produce alternative fuel.

The 400,000 square metre plant is expected to begin operating in the second quarter of 2020. It is located in Al-Madfaq, which is about 20 kilometres north of Umm al-Quwain city and 2.5 kilometres west of the Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Road.

The municipalities of Umm al-Quwain and the neighbouring emirate of Ajman signed an agreement to deliver solid waste to the plant earlier this year.

The UAE aims to treat 75 per cent of solid municipal waste using alternative methods instead of dumping in landfills by 2021.