By Hana Namrouqa
AMMAN - The Jordan Water Company (Miyahuna) will start to rehabilitate the capital's water networks this year under a 17-million-euro project to reduce water loss and prepare the pipelines for the Disi Water Conveyance Project.
Under a loan agreement signed between the Jordan Water Authority (JWA) and the German Development Bank (KfW) last Thursday, the German government extended 11.67 million euros, while the remaining amount will be secured by the JWA.
The agreement aims to revamp Amman's water network and reduce water loss, which is a key challenge facing the Ministry of Water and Irrigation. Officials say water leakage in Amman currently stands at 38 per cent and is even higher in the southern governorates and agricultural areas.
"This is the first project that focuses on rehabilitating the water network in Amman for the purpose of receiving water from the Disi project, expected to provide the capital with 100 million cubic metres (mcm) of water annually," JWA Secretary General Munir Oweis said at the signing ceremony.
Work on the Disi project is expected to commence in May or June after the project's financial closure is signed and is expected to be operational three years after construction starts.
The Disi project will be established on a build-operate-transfer basis, and is one of six strategic plans initiated by the Water Ministry to address the country's longstanding water deficit.
"Rehabilitating the Amman water network means solving 70-80 per cent of breaks in the pipeline. It also means addressing 60 per cent of the water leakage problem," he added.
The project will be implemented by Miyahuna and Austrian company SETEC in a joint venture with local company ENGICON, which will provide engineering services for design and supervision.
KfW, which finances investments and advisory services in developing countries on behalf of the German federal ministry for economic cooperation and development, has extended 994.5 million euros to the Kingdom since the 1960s for projects that seek to improve the water sector.
