COUNTRY | United Arab Emirates
REGION | Asia
SECTOR | transport, social infrastructure, other sector (climate change)
QII Principles | Principle 2 Economic Efficiency, Principle 3 Environmental Considerations, Principle 4 Building Resilience, Principle 5 Social Considerations
QII Sub-Principles | 1: SDGs, 1: Paris Agreement, 2: Life-cycle costing, 2: Operation and maintenance, 3: Environmental Impact Assessment, 3: Ecosystems, 3: Biodiversity, 3: Climate, 3: Emissions, 4: Resilience
Overview
Cost: AED 200K
Size: Project is on national level covering all of the UAE
Parties involved (public and private): UAE Ministry of Energy and Infrastructure, University of Sharjah, National Metrology Centre, Ministry of Climate Change and Environment & GGGI
Relevant contractual details (type, length etc.): Deliverables-based contract with agreed fees per milestone/deliverable, total duration is 24 months.
Context: UAE Ministry of Energy and Infrastructure in collaboration with the University of Sharjah, intended to develop new asphalt binder specifications for the UAE to help mitigate the environmental impacts of climate change by building a climate model and running different Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) scenarios.
Aim(s) of the project: The project aims at extending the lifespan of the asphalt and reducing the maintenance costs. This will also lead to better user experience leading to safer and faster trips.
Timeline
Key dates including procurement, construction, operations
Starting Date Nov 2019 for 24 months
Relevance to QII
The implementation of climate modelling will ensure the implementation of the Principles selected above by building resilience in infrastructure and enable its adaptation to climate change.
Benefits
The expected benefits are (1) Adaptation to climate change (2) Reduce the roads intervention and maintenance cost (3) Enhance the infrastructure resilience The use of recycled asphalt or the inclusion of modified polymers have saved cost and time by 30 to 40% respectively. However, the biggest benefit is from the increased lifespan of the asphalt as it provides the users with better (safer and faster) driving experience. The first Road Safety Manual of the UAE is also developed within the project, with the purpose of mitigating the climate change impact by linking the historical crash data with the climate events and help run different IPCC scenarios on the developed crash model.
Metrics
The success is measured by reducing the number of maintenance interventions which will lead to savings in cost and reduce roads disruption which will increase social satisfaction