Ministry signs 100m euros deal to improve water infrastructure

AMMAN — The Ministry of Water and Irrigation on Thursday signed a loan and grant agreement worth 100 million euros with the French government, the German Construction Bank and the EU to provide technical support to the Yarmouk Water Company (YWC). 

The agreement was signed by Minister of Water and Irrigation Raed Abul Saud, in the presence of French Ambassador to Amman David Bertolotti and representatives of the German Construction Bank and the EU, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported.

Abul Saud said that the ministry was working with donor countries to implement a set of projects to improve the water supply in the northern region. 

The minister added that the agreement would help reduce water losses and provide citizens with more water, adding that the first phase of the project, worth 35 million euros, will focus on improving infrastructure in Irbid and Ramtha.

He added that water lines in the northern region would receive more than 50 million cubic metres of drinking water by the middle of 2019.

The minister underlined that the government would float three tenders for the projects in the agreement, which will begin in 2021. He added that the projects would serve to more than 1.5 million citizens and Syrian refugees, who constitute 25 per cent of the northern region’s population.    

The minister also said that the second phase of the project, worth 65 million euros, would rehabilitate minor lines and residential pipes in Irbid and Ramtha.