Sharjah Electricity and Water Authority Awards Water Metering Contract to Elster
LUTON, England, Nov. 8, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Elster (NYSE: ELT) announced today that Sharjah utility company, Sharjah Electricity and Water Authority (SEWA) has selected Elster to supply more than 30,000 V100 volumetric water meters in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
The V100 volumetric water meter is available in a range of sizes from 15mm to 40mm and provides optimum accuracy and performance. Delivering long-life, low maintenance and tamper-proof operation, the V100 performs in accordance with international ISO 4064 standards.
SEWA supplies electricity, water and natural gas to over 300,000 customers in the Emirate of Sharjah, which is a member of the UAE. As a result of SEWA’s commissioning and development of more desalination plants and well fields in recent years, total water production now amounts to over 32,037 million gallons, equating to an average of 87.8 million gallons per day.
"The V100 range offers very high accuracy in any position and we are delighted to be working with SEWA to supply these meters," commented Gary Vincent, regional general manager for Elster’s water metering business.
About Elster
Elster (NYSE: ELT) is one of the world’s largest electricity, gas and water measurement and control providers. Its offerings include distribution monitoring and control, advanced smart metering, demand response, networking and software solutions, and numerous related communications and services – key components for enabling consumer choicee, operational efficiency and conservation. Its products and solutions are widely used by utilities in the traditional and emerging Smart Grid markets.
Elster has one of the most extensive installed revenue measurement bases in the world, with more than 200 million metering devices deployed over the course of the last 10 years. It sells its products and services in more than 130 countries across electricity, gas, water and multi-utility applications for residential, commercial and industrial, and transmission and distribution applications.
For more information about Elster, please visit www.elster.com.
Abu Dhabi Tourism Authority teams up with Disney for training programmes
The seminar programme, which runs at the Shangri-La Hotel, Qaryat Al Beri in Abu Dhabi from October 31 to November 2, is being subsidised by ADTA to encourage strong partner take up.
UAE national participants will be offered places on a complimentary basis.
"This initiative lives up to our commitment to deliver best practice across our stakeholder engagement programme," said Nasser Al Reyami, Tourism Standards Director, ADTA.
"The seminars are rare opportunities to learn from a company that has consistently led the way in the hospitality, tourism and entertainment industries. We hope that, in the spirit of Disney, our stakeholders will be inspired to deliver world-class employee and customer satisfaction, memorable experiences and improved bottom-line results." Those wishing to register for the seminars can do so online by logging on to ADTA's corporate website - www.abudhabitourism.ae.
WAM/AM
Palestinian Authority employees on half-pay as Arab donors fail to stump up
Hugh Naylor (Foreign Correspondent)
JERUSALEM // The prime minister of the Palestinian Authority has warned that government employees would be paid only half their salaries this month, because of what he called a “financial crisis”.
Salaam Fayyad attributed the problem to what he called a failure by some donor countries to meet their financial pledges to the PA, whose budget is largely reliant on foreign aid.
He painted a bleak financial picture of a bureaucracy that he has attempted to streamline, just as the Palestinians prepare to present their case for statehood recognition to the United Nations in September.
Mr Fayyad warned that the PA had amassed a total domestic debt of US$840 million at the end of last year, and had nearly reached its borrowing limit.
“The government has decided to pay employees half their salary due to the financial crisis that the Palestinian Authority is experiencing because of the failure of donors, including our Arab brothers, to fulfil their pledges,” he said at a press conference on Sunday.
Mr Fayyad said the PA has been experiencing a monthly budgetary shortfall of roughly US$30 million. Only about a third of the US$971 million pledged by donor countries has so far been transferred into the PA’s coffers, creating the monthly gap that he said was bridged with bank loans.
“We tried to deal with the financial crisis by borrowing from banks and we were able to alleviate the problem somewhat by taking out loans, but the deficit that is accumulating from month to month has gotten to the point that is can no longer be addressed with bank loans.”
He credited the UAE, along with Oman and Algeria, for maintaining their financial commitments but made a special plea to other Arab countries for support.
In response to a reconciliation agreement between Fatah and Hamas, Israel refused in May to pay the PA the monthly tax revenues it collects on its behalf. The tax-collecting arrangement was established as part of the 1993 Oslo Accords.
hnaylor@thenational.ae
3ec4d948a76f0310VgnVCM100000e56411acRCRDA failure by some donor countries to meet their financial pledges to the PA, whose budget is largely reliant on foreign aid, means that the PA has nearly reached its borrowing limit and cannot pay full salaries.
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