By Sanaullah Ataullah
Doha: Qatar General Electricity and Water Corporation (Kahramaa) yesterday launched a new initiative to raise public awareness about rationalisation of water and electricity consumption by sending monthly consumption data to Qatari and expatriate customers through text messages.
The initiative was announced at the fourth anniversary of the ongoing National Programme for Conservation and Energy Efficiency (Tarsheed) at the Doha Sheraton. The event was attended by Prime Minister and Interior Minister H E Sheikh Abdullah bin Nasser bin Khalifa Al Thani, Minister of Energy and Industry H E Dr Mohammed bin Saleh Al Sada and several other dignitaries.
Addressing the ceremony, Kahramaa President Eng Essa bin Hilal Al Kuwari said: “Today we are announcing the launch of a new initiative to raise awareness among citizens and expatriates by directly contacting them to inform about their monthly consumption (of water and electricity) and the suitable consumption limits for each building and real estate property.” The Prime Minister in his speech lauded the role of Tarsheed in reducing consumption of electricity and water in the country in a remarkable way.
“Tarsheed has achieved positive results by reducing per capita electricity and water consumption by 14 percent and 17 percent, respectively, and this motivates us to continue to support this programme collectively for the achievement of the targeted goals”, said the Prime Minister.
The Premier called on citizens and expatriates to cooperate in rationalisation of electricity and water consumption. “Energy conservation is a religious, national and moral responsibility of all people in this country. There is no alternative to preserving natural resources for us and for the coming generations,” he said.
Awareness drives will be held to educate citizens and expatriates to play active roles to make Tarsheed a success, he added.
Dr Al Sada said the ministry has adopted planning and continuous management of resources to meet the expectations of the development plan envisaged in Qatar National Vision 2030.
Qatar being a country with one of the highest consumption of water and electricity, there is a pressing need for raising awareness and education on rationalisation, he added.
The fourth anniversary celebration was held under the theme ‘Tomorrow starts Today’ in partnership with Aamal and Doha Cables. Senior officials from government and private sectors, environment champions, schoolchildren and others were present.
Tarsheed has made saving of about QR800m until 2015, reducing carbon dioxide emissions and consumption of gases.
Kahramaa felicitated the winners (individuals and corporates) in competitions organized by its Conservation and Energy Efficiency department.
The Ministry of Endowments and Islamic Affairs was selected as the best government entity in applying conservation and efficiency standards.
The best conserving buildings were: Students’ Residential building of Qatar Foundation-Hamad Bin Khalifa University (governmental sector); Qatar Academy School of Msheireb Properties (companies); Al Gassar Residential compound of Alfardan Group (residential sector); Qatar Shell (commercial sector), the Ministry of Culture and Sports-Al Ahli Sports Club (sports sector), and Crown Plaza Doha (tourism sector).
Grand Hyatt Doha won the Green Hospitality competition held in partnership with Amlak International. Winners in the Best renewable energy initiative competition were: Organisations category (First place): Qatar Foundation’s Project of producing 500 MW of solar energy at Education City; (second place): Iberdrola Company – Initiative for Green Schools; and Green Gulf Company; (People category): Farm of Khalid Al Mutawaa; and Engineer Ahmed Ghareeb Al Malki. Sara Abdulla Al Mutawwa, HBKU, won the Apps Champ Competition. All sectors and entities which contributed to implementation of projects run under Tarsheed were also felicitated.
The Peninsula
