AMMAN — Minister of Planning and International
Cooperation
Nasser Shraideh chaired a coordination meeting on Tuesday with
multilateral international financial institutions and funding agencies, where
he asserted the importance of facilitating funding for the National Water
Carrier Project (Aqaba-Amman Water Desalination and Transport Project) as part
of his ministry’s efforts to galvanize international support for this strategic
project through best available financing conditions.
اضافة اعلان
Attending the meeting were
Minister of Water and Irrigation Mohammed Najjar,
Minister of Finance Mohammad Al-Ississ, and the secretary-general
of the
Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources, in addition to chief executives
and directors of international financial institutions and funding agencies.
Shraideh reviewed the outlined draft terms of
reference for the Aqaba-Amman water transport and desalination project
(national carrier), including the government financial contribution, as well as
the customs and tax guarantees and exemptions that the government intends to
provide to the project to enable funders to make their respective decisions on
the project.
Shraideh reiterated the strategic importance of the
project to the Kingdom, pointing out that the
national water carrier is
considered a vital strategic project tops the government’s priorities, and is
of key importance for water security in the context of comprehensive economic
development. He also noted that the national water carrier project is foremost
on the government’s investment projects for 2021–2023.
The project, which will be fully implemented on
Jordanian territory through 450km of pipelines will provide adequate and
sustainable desalinated water of about 300 million cubic meter per year. Shraideh
briefed the meeting on the water situation in the Kingdom and the challenges
facing the sector at present as a result of several factors, like the Syria
crisis, climate change, population growth, and the sector’s growing needs.
The project will be implemented through the Planning
Ministry in coordination with the Water Ministry as well as donors and funding
agencies, who will jointly develop a plan to mitigate water losses across the
Kingdom’s
governorates, modernize and upgrade water systems, and achieve sensible water
management, according to Shraideh.
The capital value of the project is estimated at $2.5
billion, part of which will be funded through grants and government contribution,
and the other part in the form of soft loans that will be provided directly to
the project’s developer. The government is also working intensively to
implement the national carrier, which will be providing water from the Gulf of
Aqaba to Amman and the northern governorates.
Shraideh expressed the government’s gratitude to all the
entities that support the project, namely the US, which offered financial and
technical support early on, and the
European Investment Bank for its financial
contribution to the project’s environmental impact study.
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