Emirates Aluminium (EMAL) has been awarded the prestigious GCC Industrial Project of the Year at the MEED Quality Awards for Projects 2012. The award is in recognition of the successful completion of Phase I of the Al Taweelah-based smelter, which was delivered ahead of schedule and to budget. The prize was announced at an awards ceremony held at The Westin Resort in Abu Dhabi on 21 May 2012.

EMAL President and CEO, Saeed Fadhel Al Mazrooei, said: “This is an incredible award for EMAL, following in the footsteps of an iconic project such as last year’s winner, the Burj Khalifa, is both humbling and a great honour. It is recognition of all the hard work and commitment of all involved in successfully delivering such a complex industrial project. It is also an endorsement of our leaders’ vision to create a future for the UAE beyond oil and gas. EMAL can now move forward with Phase II with confidence and remain a beacon for the future of the UAE.”

The MEED Quality Awards for Projects are for projects fully completed and successfully operatingand that cover some of the biggest social and economic developments. The projects are assessed for quality of design, planning and delivery upon completion. MEED were particularly impressed by the cross-Emirate cooperation involved in creating the smelter, a $5.7 billion joint venture between Mubadala and DUBAL. MEED also cited the efforts made to preserve the natural habitat when building on the 6 sq km site. It took 90 million man hours to complete the project and over 18,000 workers were employed during construction.

EMAL VP Projects, Yousuf Abdulla Al Bastaki who received the award on behalf of Emirates Aluminium Company, added: “To be chosen ahead of hundreds of other projects in a region where development is so important is praise indeed. We put a lot of emphasis on our project plan for the Phase I development and ensured we had the right systems and values in place. It is a templatewe will use as we expand the smelter into one of the world’s largest single-site aluminium smelters , and prove to the world the outstanding performance of the UAE developed smelting technology” In a project lead by UAE National.

EMAL was formed as a $5.7 billion joint venture between Mubadala and DUBAL in 2007. First concrete was poured in April 2008 and the smelter became operational in December 2009. It hit full production capacity of 750,000 tonnes per year on the first working day of 2011. In July 2011 EMAL announced a further investment of $4.5 billion which will almost double production capacity to 1.3 million metric tonnes upon completion in 2014.

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