It aims to transfer up to 300 million cubic meters of water from the Gulf of Aqaba

Jordan intends to establish a huge project worth one billion dollars to desalinate and transport water

The project will transfer water from the Gulf of Aqaba in the far south of Jordan to the governorates of the Kingdom.

Getty

An official in the Jordanian Ministry of Water and Irrigation announced that his country, which is one of the world's poorest countries with water, will set up a huge project to desalinate and transport water from the Gulf of Aqaba in the far south of the Kingdom to all its governorates, to be completed between 2025 and 2026.

The ministry's spokesman, Omar Salama, told AFP that the ministry will soon start qualifying the best five international coalitions out of a total of 13 coalitions in the Naqel project to desalinate and transport water from Aqaba to the governorates of the Kingdom, to start submitting their technical and financial offers to implement this national project.

Project cost

Salameh added: "The cost of the project is estimated at about one billion dollars, and we hope to complete it between 2025 and 2026," noting that it aims to desalinate and transfer from 250 to 300 million cubic meters of water from the Gulf of Aqaba on the Red Sea to all regions of the Kingdom, to secure quantities of water. additional sustainable.

Salama explained that the project receives great attention to address the water deficit in the Kingdom, and to secure it to cover drinking needs during the next two decades.

The spokesman said that the selected companies will determine the energy needed to operate the project, given that desalination technologies require a lot of energy.

Bahrain carrier

It is noteworthy that Jordan imports most of its energy needs from abroad, at a time when the Jordanian Minister of Water, Muhammad Al-Najjar, confirmed to the “Public Session” program, which was broadcast on the official “Mamlaka” TV last Tuesday, that the “Bahrain Transporter” project, which connects Bahrain “The Red” and the “Dead” is now in “Khabar Kan” due to the lack of agreement between the parties to the project.

A canal project linking the Red Sea to the Dead Sea, whose waters experts warn could dry up by 2050, has stalled for years, due to the stalemate in the region's peace process.

According to a World Bank study with the participation of the three parties: Jordan, Israel and the Palestinian Authority, the total cost of the project will be approximately $11 billion.

The minister added that "this project does not meet Jordan's needs because it would have transported 200 million cubic meters in its first phase to the Dead Sea, which means that we would have waited years to see the impact of salt water on the Dead Sea."

Al-Najjar explained that this project has ended, and we are now proceeding with a project of a national carrier for our water and our lands, and we do not want any party to participate in it.

On the economic feasibility of the new national carrier project, the minister said: "There is no such thing as an economic feasibility when it comes to drinking water. This is a necessary and urgent need, and we must bear its cost."

It is noteworthy that, according to the Ministry of Water, Jordan will suffer a shortage of water for drinking purposes this summer by 40 million cubic meters.

Follow our local and sports news and the latest political and economic developments via Google news