AMMAN — The
government will float a “competitive” final tender for the
National Water Carrier project in the second half of 2023, according to Minister of Planning
and International Cooperation Nasser Shraideh.
اضافة اعلان
Speaking at a press conference Thursday to
announce the countries and institutions supporting the project, Shraideh said
that the government has so far secured $744 million in grants.
The goal is to increase the number of grants
for the program in a bid to lower the impact the project has on the Treasury,
thus reducing the spending per unit of desalinated water that will be produces,
the minister said.
Shraideh said the government hopes to break
ground on the project at the end of 2023 or early 2024, according to the Jordan
News Agency, Petra. The Kingdom will likely see the project’s first desalinated
water at the end of 2026 or the beginning of 2027, he said.
A number of international and local companies
or coalitions have submitted applications for the project’s qualifying tender,
which were shortlisted to five qualified bidders that were announced on the
Ministry of Water and Irrigation’s website, according to Shraideh.
In addition, the minister referred to a number
of local commercial banks who expressed an interest in providing funding to the
company that winds the tender.
The government, he noted, is not a party in
this process, but rather interested in providing low funding for this project,
which would “positively” affect the cost of desalinated water in the future.
Securing more grants and soft development and
investment loans ensures better status for Jordan in terms of the project’s
feasibility and the cost per cubic meter, he said.
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