Jordan- Disi project construction work officially begins

(MENAFN - Jordan Times) Turkish President Abdullah Gul and Prime Minister Nader Dahabi on Wednesday officially inaugurated construction of the vital Disi Water Conveyance Project.

Projected to supply the capital with 100 million cubic meters of water annually, Al Disi project will be implemented by the Turkish company GAMA.

In his remarks at the inauguration ceremony, held in Al Qastal area south of Amman, Gul highlighted the importance of the multimillion-dollar project, saying that he is confident that the company will execute the project within the set time frame.

He added that implementing and securing over $1 billion in funding for the Disi project was not an easy task in light of the global financial crisis, adding that Turkey is ready to increase cooperation with countries in the region in the field of water.

Stating that water will be the most important issue in the future, particularly as this issue is now the focal point of climate change talks, Gul stressed the importance of investments in the field.

He reiterated his country's keenness to bolster relations with Jordan in all fields including political, economic, agricultural, cultural and defense matters, and called on business people and companies in both countries to take the initiative and explore investment and cooperation opportunities.

Last month, the government said that GAMA had given instructions for the purchase of 30,000 tonnes of pipelines at a cost of $32 million in preparation for the execution of the megaproject.

More than 70 per cent of construction work on the project's main offices in Mudawara, built over a 5,000-cubic-meter area, is now finished, while 95 per cent of the pipeline warehouse is complete, the project's director Othman Kurdi said last month.

The project went into effect as of June 30 after the financial closure was signed. The government's equity in the project totals $400 million, $100 million of which is allocated as "standby" funding to be used if international prices of construction materials, including steel, increase.

The European Investment Bank and the French Development Agency extended two $100 million soft loans to the government.

To be carried out on a build-operate-transfer basis, the project entails constructing a 325-kilometer pipeline that will convey water from the ancient Disi aquifer in the south of Jordan to Amman.

The price of one cubic meter of water generated from the Disi project went down from JD0.87 to JD0.74 after the government raised its stake in the project and steel prices fell on international markets.