55km water pipeline over harshest terrain in RAK

The emirate's Al Ghail district will now receive uninterrupted water following the commissioning of a 55-km water transmission line this week by Utico, leading independent utilities provider in the GCC.
Al Ghail city has about 50,000 inhabitants, farmlands and Al Ghail Industrial City is one of the fastest growing industrial parks in the country and is owned by the Ras Al Khaimah Industrial Authority.
The pipeline, built at a total cost of Dh75 million, is considered as a challenging engineering feat due to the difficult terrain and the huge cost for pumping water from the sea to the city point at an elevation of 290 metres (965 feet).
The project has started to provide much-needed water to an estimated 50,000 residents, farmlands and enterprises of Al Ghail district and will support growth in the region.
Richard Menezes, Utico's Managing Director, said that the project has a peak capacity of around 7 million gallons of desalinated water per day with the expansion possibility of another 10 MGD.
"The construction of the water infrastructure for Al Ghail was not an easy task but we achieved this without a single lost time incident," he added.
The water supply line project also includes distribution network of another 60km. The entire project includes storage tanks, pumping stations and bowser points and related works.
Utico provides water and power below government tariffs and does not have any government subsidies or government capital.
reporters@khaleejtimes.com