Jordan has procured over $2.2 billion to finance its water carrier project, the biggest infrastructure project in the country’s history, Arab News reports.
The International Finance Corporation (IFC), the arm of the World Bank Group that offers investment services, pledged to provide an investment loan of up to $400 million to finance the National Water Carrier Project (Aqaba-Amman Water Desalination and Transport Project), Planning and International Cooperation Minister Nasser Shraideh announced on Sunday.
The National Water Carrier Project, which is expected to be ready in 2027, will provide about 300 million cubic metres of desalinated water annually, to meet the water needs of four million individuals in the Kingdom and consists of a seawater withdrawal system which follows the highest environmental standards to ensure the quality of water and sustain the marine ecosystem.
The project will depend on the Red Sea as a sustainable source and it includes a desalination plant based on the southern shore of Aqaba, in addition to pumping stations and tanks, and a 450-kilometre pipeline.
Minister of Water Mohammad Najjar said that the National Water Carrier Project (Aqaba-Amman Water Desalination and Transport Project) would cost about $2.5 billion, but “that is not a final estimate.”
The Aqaba-Amman project will be based on the build-operate-transfer system.
Jordan is one of the world’s most-scarce nations with as little as 100m m3 of water available per person every year.
According to the UNHCR, Jordan remains the second largest refugee host per capita worldwide with roughly 750,000 refugees of 57 different nationalities.
