By Ramesh Mathew/Staff Reporter

The Qatar General Electricity and Water Corporation (Kahramaa)’s ongoing five-year water and electricity conservation campaign, Tarsheed, has received a substantial boost with support from the Ezdan Holding Group.
The country’s largest real estate group, which owns more than 18,000 residential units in Wukair and thousands more in and around Doha and other parts of the country, yesterday announced its support for the campaign.
Kahramaa president Issa bin Hilal al-Kuwari formally announced the agreement in the presence of Ezdan Holding chairman and prominent real estate developer Sheikh Khalid bin Thani bin Abdulla al-Thani.
Speaking at the ceremony, al-Kuwari hoped others would emulate Ezdan Holding’s initiative and help Kahramaa and the country make considerable savings in electricity and water consumption in the coming years.
Under the Tarsheed campaign, launched more than two years ago, Kahramaa is aiming to reduce consumption of water and electricity by about 5% every year.
“The ambitious Tarsheed campaign has delivered good results so far and there has been a significant decrease in the consumption of water last year compared to the previous year,” al-Kuwari pointed out.
Recently, Kahramaa officials announced that the growth in water consumption across Qatar in 2013 was only 7% compared to the previous year, despite a more than 9.5% growth in the country’s population during the period.
The growth in water consumption between 2011 and 2012 was over 10%.
A total effective saving of 20% is expected in electricity and 35% in water as a result of the five-year campaign, it was announced at the launch in April 2012.
Besides developing a large number of residential compounds in Wukair in the last three years, Ezdan has also constructed a number of high end residential compounds in northern Doha, in particular in Gharafa, a group official said later.
The company also owns a number of modern commercial projects including the Ezdan Mall in Gharafa. The Ezdan Group is also currently developing new generation malls in Gharafa and Wakrah.
“Along with thousands of our residential units, the Tarsheed campaign will also cover other Ezdan properties,” the official said.
It is also understood that the company’s yet-to-be-launched freehold properties – numbering about 15,000 units to be developed in different parts of the country – would be covered under the campaign.
The group has installed in all its new properties equipment capable of reducing the use of water and electricity in their precincts.