Dubai Municipality bags several international awards in 2012

The 2012 was an year of unmatched performance and achievements in the history of Dubai Municipality as it has been recognised locally, regionally and globally... through various prestigious awards in different fields of municipal activities, best practices and public services. Eng. Hussain Nassir Lootah, Director General of Dubai Municipality said that the civic body has been continuing its journey with outstanding performance and excellence and is proud of the departments and employees who helped to achieve all these awards in diversified fields. The Award Section of Dubai Municipality has recently released a list of important awards secured by the civic body in 2012, which included, not limited to the following : ‘The Stevie Award’ for best call centre and customer care team in 2012, one of the prestigious awards for honouring the achievements and organizations in global level in many fields such as business, customer service, call centre, sales etc. The Information Technology Department of DM has won Network Middle East Magazine’s ‘Innovation Awards 2012’ in the category of best technical project in the field of information security systems for the year 2012. Dubai Central Laboratory (DCL) of Dubai Municipality secured the award for its constant efforts for sustainable use of natural recourses and environment friendly management of wastes. The National Energy Globe Award for the year 2012 which is established by Energy Globe, a renowned international organization head-quartered in Austria. EnviroCities e-magazine, published by Environmental Centre for Arab Towns under Dubai Municipality has bagged the ‘Award for The Best Structure’ constituted by the Pan Arab Web Awards Academy. DCL also won the Purple Ribbon and the Golden Order of Merit with a patent certificate, which has been awarded by Tatweej Academy for Excellence Awards in cooperation with the Arab Organization for Administrative Development of the Arab League in the field of excellence and quality in the Arab world in the category of the best institutions in terms of excellence in services and best practices in the Arab region. This award honours the department for its excellence in providing the confidence for the products at global level through the evaluation of products, tests, studies, developing specifications, placing standards and its contribution in the accreditation of laboratories by international accreditation agencies in line with the international standards such as 17025:2005 IEC \ ISO , ISO Guide 65, OHSAS 18001:2007 and ISO 14001:2004. The Sewerage Network and Irrigation Department has won H2O Water Awards 2012 constituted by Power & Water Middle East Magazine in the category of Innovative Use / Application of Technology for its cost-effective and environmentally-sustainable drip irrigation system that combines solar energy and Treated Sewage Effluent (TSE). This system is being implemented at 34 roundabouts in Dubai. This project was initiated by Sewerage Network Department to build a green and sustainable economy in the UAE . The main aim of this project is to utilise the renewable solar energy and the treated water and establish a cost-effective and environmentally sustainable solution by adopting drip irrigation system to irrigate the plants and trees in various roundabouts of the emirate of Dubai, which is being implemented in collaboration with the Public Parks and Horticulture Department. Public Parks and Horticulture Department won the silver medal in the International Liveable Communities Awards 2012 hosted by Al Ain City, the UAE in November 2012. The department brought this award to DM by participating with its pond park projects in Dubai. The project was selected in the category of best vital projects out of many projects from all over the world. This award has been granted for its diligent efforts and keenness to provide public gardens and parks with recreational facilities in accordance with international best practices and specifications, design and efficient operation to meet the needs and aspirations of the society, in tune with the population growth and urban sprawl. Eng. Hussain Nasser Lootah, Director General, has secured Ideas America Golden Award-2012 for the best leader and creativity supporter category. The award was announced in the annual Ideas. America conference held in Arizona ,USA. The award comes as an international recognition for his outstanding contributions to initiate and support suggestion system in Dubai Municipality. In addition to his personal efforts to develop organizational environment encouraging creativity in the department by directing officials to implement events and activities to support creativity and innovation such as Together Towards Creativity, Good Companion, Exhibit Creativity, his keenness to be in continuous contact with staff through the implementation of open-door policy has been taken to account by the award committee. ‘Have your say’ an initiative Dubai Municipality came up with to make room for its employees to share creative ideas and innovative thoughts ,has secured the award for best employee engagement program, constituted by International Quality& Productivity Centre Middle East(IQPC ME). DM could implement many of the internationally recognized quality principles and introduce tools to maximize quality of services in several departments through this system. It paved way to simplify procedures, reduce expenses, generate more revenue and win targeted indicators with an ever zealous cadre having we-feeling and team spirit. The Information Technology department of Dubai Municipality has grabbed the Pan Arab Award for best strategic Arabic website. DCL secured another award in the Earth Category, organized by Austrian Wolfgan Neumann, through its research study under the title ‘Evaluation of recycled aggregate from construction and demolition waste’. The Planning Department won ISOCARP of Excellence Award by Global Association of Planners in Amsterdam, for the presentation of Dubai 2020 urban master plan. The public health and safety department won the occupational safety award in the safety and sustainability category. The award is an initiative of RTA to honour the consultants, contractors and strategic partners in the field of occupational health and safety and environment. The waste management Department won the award for voluntary work for its contribution in several projects including marine catastrophes and ‘At your service’ initiative by Emirates Idea Award. The Sustainability Leaders Award by Glob Est in Glob Conference and Expo 2012 was granted to DM considering its adoption of green building standards which are going to be mandatory in 2014. General Projects Department won ME Pool & Spa Award in Best Green Pools Design & Build category for the Hamdan Sports Complex Project. The award organized by UAE Society of Engineers aims to encourage innovation and competition in this sector in order to promote engineering work and provide best practices in the field. The sewage water treatment plant department won the Green M.E Awards in field of Government Sustainability Innovation for its project under the title ‘ Use of Bio-scrubbers in –lieu of chemical scrubbers’. The award is organized by Sharjah Expo Centre in collaboration with the Ministry of Environment and Water.