Water. Desalination + reuse
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represented, and will reply to questions from the floor. 'World Bank Desalination and Water Reuse Workshop': This will be the first World Bank workshop at an IDA conference. The World Bank is interested in financing and participating in desalination and water reuse projects. For this purpose, they will bring customers from Latin America, Asia and Africa. Experts will explore the best ways to progress towards this target. Other institutions invited to participate include the Inter- American Development Bank and the Brazilian Development Bank, BNDES. Thursday, 19 October: Meet the Professors Universities have been invited to discuss better ways to interact with industry and to ensure that university research gets transferred to commercial partners. 'The Desalination and Water Reuse and Food Nexus — World Water Assessment Program (WWAP) of UNESCO, Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) of the United Nations (UN), and other agencies' UNESCO will present this year's UN World Water Development Report, focusing on wastewater as an untapped resource. The goal is to share practical knowledge and to apply it to food production. 'Energy and Environment Blue Paper. The Challenges of Desalination and Renewable Energies': This session will focus on the main conclusions from IDA's International Energy and Environment Forum, which took place in late 2016 in Miami, US. Web: wc.idadesal.org • Sidem is a really great company which gives opportunities to young guys. I am 34 years old. I did the first project with Sidem, Marafiq IWPP plant, Saudi Arabia, in 2008-9, when I was just 25. When you are in the middle of a project, you are learning very fast. What you gain as knowledge when you see with your eyes is much faster than when you're in the office. Being outside was a great opportunity for me to grow up quickly. • I was born in France, and I used to live in France and UK. And then I moved to the Middle East to do projects. My origin is from Tunisia, so I have this Arabic background, and I am able to understand the culture of the local guys, day-to-day life. It is very important to have the human part. Especially when you are doing projects, there is a big role in all the communication and interaction. • In Sidem projects we have some people from UK, France, Italy, eastern Europe; and we have people coming from Asia, South Asia, Philippines, India, Pakistan. It's a big cultural mix. We are going beyond all the differences of culture to achieve the same goal. I started to learn words in Filipino, in Hindi, Korean. Being in such multi-cultural projects you will have to interact. It's a nice aspect. • A"er Marafiq, we had this big opportunity here in Sadara project, Saudi Arabia. I joined in 2013. I had to organise all the parts related to the commissioning, pre-commissioning and start-up of the plant. We had to make a very intelligent schedule to make sure that we were ready on time so that we didn't delay the start-up of the petrochemical complex. • Since we have completed the commissioning of Sadara last year, we have entered the operations and maintenance phase, and I am acting operation manager. So I exchanged my hat from the commissioning to the operation, which is very good because you already know each part of the plant, so it's beneficial for the company as well as the client. • Personally, my biggest challenge was to organise very, very big plant set up and execution and commissioning within very short time. When you come it's just sand. And from sand you have to create this plant. If someone is interested and a little bit curious and wants to learn there is no better place than being outside doing projects. When did you start out in desalination projects? Why were you drawn to work on projects in the Middle East? What do you enjoy most about your job? What was your role on the Sadara project? What will you do now that the project is successfully completed? What has been the biggest challenge in your career so far? Q & A Z i A D B O UA R S "When you come it's sand, and you have to create this plant" Ziad Bouars, commissioning manager at Sidem-Veolia, explains why he has no intention of swapping a projects role out in the field for a desk job back at head office continued from p28 30 IDA & Affiliates June 2017 Water. desalination + reuse