‘Expanded Zarqa plant to provide more than 10% of Jordan’s water supply’

AMMAN — Prime Minister Abdullah Ensour and US Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) CEO Dana J. Hyde on Monday inaugurated the start of operations at the expanded As Samra Wastewater Treatment Plant in Zarqa. 

The plant will provide Jordan with 133 million cubic metres of treated water per year — representing more than 10 per cent of the Kingdom’s entire water resources, according to a US embassy statement.  

“It is now one of the largest and most modern wastewater treatment plants in the Middle East, treating more than 70 per cent of all wastewater produced in Jordan,” the statement added.

“MCC... is working together with the government of Jordan to conserve the country’s critical water supply and improve the quality of water for families and business,” the statement quoted Hyde as saying. 

“Our partnership is an example of the strong US commitment to the people of Jordan and the critical needs of the region.”

The plant harnesses clean energy to produce electricity, and the project has employed approximately 1,500 people, according to the statement.

“By increasing the amount of treated water that is released into the Zarqa River, wildlife is returning to the river, and more clean water is available for irrigation to support farmers in the Jordan Valley,” it added.

MCC contributed a $93 million grant to the expansion, alongside additional funding from the government, a financing syndicate led by the Arab Bank, and As Samra Project Company, a consortium of private companies, according to the US embassy.

The MCC grant represents part of its five-year, $275 million MCC-Jordan Compact signed in 2010.

Also on Monday, Ensour met with Hyde and discussed various areas of cooperation between Jordan and the MCC, as well as water-related projects currently under way, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported.

At the meeting, also attended by Water Minister Hazem Nasser and Minister of Planning and International Cooperation Imad Fakhoury, the premier stressed the government’s commitment to maintaining cooperation with the MCC and to further boosting its activities in the Kingdom, expressing the government’s appreciation of the US support of Jordan, especially for the Samra project, which seeks to alleviate the water crisis in the Kingdom.

Ensour highlighted the impact of the Syrian crisis on the Kingdom, given that it currently hosts around 1.4 million Syrians.