AMMAN — Plans and strategies related to water security, the Kingdom's dam
water storage and general condition, and the increase in the quantities of
fodder allocated to farmers were discussed Tuesday by the Parliamentary
Committee on Agriculture, Water and Badia, according to Ad-Dustour.
اضافة اعلان
The committee
meeting Tuesday was chaired by MP Muhammad Al-Alaqmeh, and attended by Manar
Mahasneh, secretary general of the Jordan Valley Authority, and Bashar
Al-Bataineh, secretary general of the Water Authority, as well as
representatives from the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Supply.
Alaqmeh
said that the committee discussed water plans and strategies in the event of a
repeated drop in rainfall rates next season, the possibility of expanding the drilling
of wells, and providing water sources to maintain water security, in addition
to discussing the Jordan Valley Authority’s regulation of Mujib Dam and its
impact on fisheries.
Alaqmeh
said the government is required to avoid concealing information in light of the
news being published regarding the water situation, which has a direct impact
on people’s lives and the agricultural sector, stressing the need to address
the water crisis and to reach a real solution.
He said
that the project of the national water conveyor could address the water problem
in the future if rainfall rates kept dropping.
In
turn, Mahasneh said that the water challenge for Jordan is a strategic
challenge, and stressed that the government's plans are based on providing
water to governorates and beneficiaries of water from dams ] which have dried
up or have seen water levels fall, and compensating them.
She said
that the flow of water from Mujib Dam, which has a capacity of 29 million cubic
meters, has stopped since the beginning of August for fear of drought.
Regarding
rumors about fish dying in Mujib dam, Mahasneh said that “about 500 kg of fish
died in the dam, and not a million as rumored”, adding that dams are built only
for drinking and irrigation purposes, but there are citizens who raise fish in
them.
She
indicated that the storage capacity of Wala Dam will increase from nine million
cubic meters to 25 million cubic meters after the completion of the project to
raise the height of the dam by the end of 2021.
The
completion of the national conveyor project is expected by mid-2026, where five
companies have been approved to bid on the project to start implementation of
the project, which will produce 300 million cubic meters of water annually.
In
addition, the Agricultural Committee discussed increasing the quantity of
fodder allocated to farmers. Assistant Secretary-General of Ministry of
Industry, Trade and Supply Imad Al-Bazour confirmed that steps are being taken
to increase it.
Read more National news
.jpg)
.jpg)
