Dubai Municipality has won four awards at the prestigious Stevie International Business Awards 2020. The Municipality’s Sewage Treatment Plants and Networks Department won a gold in the category of ‘Large Organisation Utilities’ while its Digital Transformation Initiative won gold in the ‘Achievement in Growth’ category.

The Sewage Treatment Plants and Networks Department also won a bronze award in the category of ‘Energy Industry Innovation of the Year’ for its project that uses solar energy to dry solid waste. Dubai Municipality’s Human Resources Department won a silver Stevie International Business Award in the category of ‘Human Resource Department of the Year’ for its initiative titled ‘HR Creates the Happiest Work Environment in Dubai Municipality’.

One of the world’s premier business awards, the Stevie International Business Awards honours the achievements and positive contributions of organisations and working professionals worldwide.  Launched in 2002, the eight programmes of the Awards attract 12,000 nominations every year.

Commenting on the global recognition, Eng. Dawood Al Hajri, Director General of Dubai Municipality, affirmed the Municipality’s commitment to implementing the vision of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, as well as enhancing Dubai’s infrastructure and environmental sustainability.

He said: “The prestigious awards acknowledge Dubai’s success in balancing rapid growth with rational use of resources and environmental preservation. We constantly seek to adopt global best practices to serve the needs of society and enhance people’s happiness, health and wellbeing.”

The awards won by the Municipality’s Sewage Treatment Plants and Networks Department is a testament to the organisation’s excellence in managing its sewage system comprised of networks, pumping stations and treatment plants. The expansion of its Jebel Ali Sewage Treatment Plant raised the capacity of wastewater treatment from 300,000 cubic meters per day to 750,000 cubic meters per day.

The solar energy project for drying solid waste, which won the bronze Stevie Award for Dubai Municipality Sewage Treatment Plants and Networks Department in the category of ‘Energy Industry Innovation of the Year 2020’, aims to preserve the environment by utilising renewable energy to dry sludge and convert it into organic fertilizer for agricultural purposes instead of sending it to a landfill, which has negative environmental effects. A total of 13,298 tonnes of sludge was drained in 2019 and converted into organic fertilizer entirely using solar energy.

The Digital Transformation Initiative of Dubai Municipality, which won the gold Stevie Award in the ‘Achievement in Growth’ category, aims to implement state of the art technical solutions in the fields of procurement, contracting and work facilitation. The project helped raise the productivity rate of contracted work to 1.9 per day from 0.49 per day, accelerate project contract completion time from 210 days to 45 days, as well as increase internal customer satisfaction by 54% and external customer satisfaction by 29%.

The silver Stevie Award for Dubai Municipality’s ‘HR Creates the Happiest Work Environment in Dubai Municipality’ initiative recognises the organisation’s achievements in applying the highest international standards in human resources management such as ISO 10015-2019, ISO 29993 and the Investors in People accreditation, as well as Department’s future-oriented human resource initiatives. In 2019, the Municipality’s Human Resources Department had been named the Best Learning Entity in the Middle East and North Africa at the LinkedIn E-learning Awards.

The Department has implemented several innovative human resources initiatives including internal communication programmes such as the Happiness Meter, Knowledge and Innovation Portal, Suggestion Scheme, and Complaints System. The Department’s efforts led to female employees reaching a 39% representation in the leadership category. Dubai Municipality has also been implementing exceptional initiatives for People of Determination as part of which it provided equipment and training to enhance their ability to work easily.