Joaan bin Fadil Al Mazrwoie was the Undersecretary of the Water and Electricity Department (WED) from 1991 to 1999 during which period the water and electricity sector of Emirate of Abu Dhabi witnessed huge transformation that paved the way for the great boost under that took place Abu Dhabi Water and Electricity Authority (ADWEA) since its inception in 1999.
Hurdles and solutions;
Al Mazrwoie recalls that the WED faced a number of difficulties at that time; "The emirate was suffering from a huge shortage of water supplies, particularly in the Western Region, and had small generators with very low production capacity not enough for the then increasing demand for electricity," he said.
Um Annar plant's capacity increased;
To meet this demand, "We add to Um Annar plant six new gas turbine units with 700 megawatt production capacity and 6 desalination units with 100 GPD capacity and constructed 400 kilovolt transmission lines and water pipelines to supply Al Ain and the Western Region with water and electricity. We also did a lot of enhancement works on the then existing old units".
Al Marfaa Plant;
He added; " In 1997 we commissioned Al Marfaa Plant, with the total capacity of 18000 GPD and the total cost of AED2 billion, enough to meet the demand of the Western Region for water and electricity".
Al Taweelah B;
Al Mazrwoie is proud of being part of the team that established Al Taweelah B plant that; "Has a number of the best water desalination and power generation units that could work effectively for not less than 50 years".
DMS:
Al Mazrwoie is also proud of his contribution for the establishment of the DMS; "By providing accurate and timely information about the water and electricity networks, this centre, the first of its kind in GCC countries, has contributed significantly for the efforts of rationalization of water and electricity consumption".
Sheikh Zayed:
"Thanks to the late Sheikh Zayed, may God bless his soul, for building such huge projects, he was very supportive to us and very keen on supplying the emirate's entire residency, particularly new real estate and agricultural projects, with their needs of water and electricity. While Sheikh Suroor bin Mohammed Al Nahyan, WED Chairman, empowered us to conduct the new projects timely and accurately".
Huge budget:
As an indication of the importance of this sector to Sheikh Zayed, Al Mazrwoie said; "We have spent AED10 billion on construction of water and electricity projects during six years only, apart from the maintenance and operating costs", he said.
Embarrassing situations;
He recalls a number of embarrassing occasions during his tenure; "One day two of the gas turbines of Umm Annar plant cam faced technical default causing a huge shortage of electricity supplies to the entire emirate and it took us around six hours to fix them before resumption of full supplies". Adding "In another occasion, a team of a contractor mistakenly pierced the main pipeline supplying Abu Dhabi island with water and the engineers said that fixing it will take around four days, but we successfully did that in only 12 hours, thanks to the visionary directives of Sheikh Zayed and Sheikh Suroor".
Employees:
Al Mazrwoie praised all the employees who worked under his administration, particularly; "Abd Al Jaleel Khori, Dr. Hassan Al Hossany, Eng. Ahmed Al Miraikhi, Eng. Hassan Al Nassay, Eng. Zaal Al Himiary and Eng. Aarf Hassan, who worked with self-denial and spared no efforts and to improve the WED performance".
Workforce:
Throughout his tenure Al Mazrwoie was very keen to; "Hone the skills of MED employees and providing them with training with the best international and local institutions".
UAE women;
The first group of UAE national women employees joined the WED in 1996, adding; "They were highly motivated and energetic college graduates with majors in media and administration who proved that the UAE women have much to contribute for building their country".
Peace of mind:
Al Mazrwoie looks at his long service with MED with complete "peace of mind" adding; "I look at those long years with peace of conscience because I did all what I could do to follow the directives of the late Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan and Sheikh Suroor bin Mohammed Al Nahyan to improve built the water and electricity sector brick by brick and providing it with highly qualified personnel and most up-to-date equipments and systems from around the world".
Personal details:
Al Mazrwoie was born in 1948 in Al Ain city, after completing his studies in Al Nahyanah School in Al Ain he graduated from the Military College in Jordan as Lieutenant in 1969
Career;
Before joing the MED, Al Mazrwoie joined the Amiri Guard and then the UAE Army Corps of Engineers and now he works as a businessman and looks after some charity activities.
Hobbies:
Al Mazrwoie displays at his home a collection of old photos of the late Sheikh Zayed and some antiquities, handmade traditional items besides a group of mummified birds and animals.
His family:
Al Mazrwoie has one son, Fadil, and seven daughters.
