‘Construction of water pipeline from Disi to north begins in mid-2015’

AMMAN — Construction on a conveyance pipeline to carry water from the Disi Water Conveyance Project to the northern region will commence in the middle of next year, a government official said on Wednesday.

Studies and blueprints of the conveyance pipeline project are near completion, the official said, noting that the project’s tender will be floated early next year.

“The conveyance pipeline will transfer the Disi water from the Zaatari Pumping Station in Mafraq Governorate to the northern governorates. A total of 10 million cubic metres of Disi water will be conveyed to address the north’s acute shortage of water,” the official told The Jordan Times over the phone.

Qualified bidders will be announced during the first quarter of next year and implementation of the project will commence by mid-2015, he added.

“Once completed, the project will bring relief to the northern governorates by increasing the water supply,” the official highlighted.

Carried out on a build-operate-transfer basis by Turkish company GAMA, the Disi project entailed the construction of a 325-kilometre pipeline to convey 100 million cubic metres annually from the ancient Disi aquifer in southern Jordan to the capital.

The water is being transferred to Amman via pipeline, which passes through several water stations in Maan, Tafileh, Karak and Madaba. 

The conveyance pipeline is one of several projects under which the ministry is linking the governorates together to facilitate the transfer of water from one area to another, according to the ministry, which said that the northern governorates are suffering from an acute water shortage due to hosting hundreds of thousands of Syrian refugees.

The northern governorates receive the lowest water per capita and suffer from the highest water loss rates in the Kingdom, standing at 60 per cent in Mafraq, 35 per cent in Irbid, 28 per cent Ajloun and 24 per cent in Jerash, according to the ministry.

The project, among others, will be financed under a 30 million euro loan agreement signed recently between the government and the German Development Bank.