AMMAN —
Minister of Water and Irrigation Mohammad Najjar said on Tuesday that a meeting
will be held on Wednesday at the Ministry of Planning and International
Cooperation, with representatives of donor countries to discuss the national
carrier project, according to Al-Mamlaka TV.
اضافة اعلان
Speaking to the Parliamentary Agricultural
Committee, Najjar said the government is looking forward to embark on the
national carrier project and to proceed according to drawn up plans. “By the
end of this year we will have signed an agreement with the preferred
coalition,” he said.
The national carrier project; at a cost of
$2.5 billion, draws water from the Aqaba Gulf, which goes through desalination
before it gets transferred to other governorates, in particular the southern
governorates and Amman.
Najjar said the ministries of planning and international
cooperation and ministry of finance, in cooperation with the ministry of water
and irrigation will handle the financing process of the national carrier
project. According to Najjar, what is available from the project’s fund through
the government during the construction phase is approximately JD250 million and
around $100 million from the
USAID.
“The tender documents were distributed to the
five eligible companies or coalitions, and on Wednesday there will be a meeting
with the ministry of planning with representatives of donor countries, in
addition to another meeting that will take place by end of January with
international banks such as; the
European Investment Bank and banks that
provide soft loans to finance the project so that the government will be in
charge of the cost of cubic meter,” Najjar said.
According to a report by the
International Monetary Fund, Jordan is one of poorest countries worldwide in renewable water
resources. Underground water, the report
states, gets depleted in unprecedented levels due to population growth and
refugee influx as well as scarcity of rain resulting from climate change.
The report stated that the ‘national carrier’ is a key
public-private partnership project that aims to desalinate water and help
resolve water scarcity through ensuring additional 300 million cubic meters by
2028.
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