Dubai Municipality has awarded a major consultancy and supervision contract to US-based Parsons Corporation for a Dh12-billion ($3.26 billion) deep tunnel sewerage project that will cover key catchments of Deira and Bur Dubai in the city.

As per the deal, Parsons will be responsible for feasibility studies, preliminary design, then project management in detailed design stages as well as the implementation and supervision of the implementation of tunnels and the lift station.

The Dubai Strategic Sewerage Tunnel (DSST) system will replace more than 121 sewage pumping stations spread across the city with a flexible and integrated system.

The project will spare the emirate from sewage problems, maintenance and other issues for the next century, said Dubai Municipality director general Hussain Nasser Lootah, after signing the contract with Jaafar Halawi, the first deputy director of Parsons and Middle East and North Africa (Mena) for industrial projects.

The two-phase project will be completed in four years. Phase One will see a tunnel being dug in Deira and another in Bur Dubai. The tunnels’ total length will be more than 70 km, in addition to nearly 140 km of sewerage links and a number of main pumping stations.