‘MCA-Jordan’s water projects in Zarqa to be all ready this summer’

AMMAN — Water and wastewater projects implemented under the $275-million grant from the US Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) are scheduled to be completed this summer, Millennium Challenge Account-Jordan (MCA-Jordan) CEO Kamal Zoubi said Wednesday.

“Our target is to complete all of the projects by July 31... and to use the financial savings we have managed to achieve to implement additional projects in Zarqa to further improve water and wastewater services,” Zoubi said.

During a meeting with the press to announce the progress of water and wastewater projects, the CEO highlighted that an ongoing scheme to establish and furbish a new building for the Jordan Water Company (Miyahuna) which manages water and wastewater services in Zarqa, is the only project that will be completed beyond July.

The scheme, which is scheduled to end in September, was proposed in light of the financial savings the company has managed to achieve by cutting down its administrative expenditure, Zoubi noted.

Established in 2010, MCA-Jordan is a company fully owned by the government to manage and implement the MCC’s grant, which was extended to Jordan in October 2010 to renovate and extend water networks in Zarqa Governorate. 

The grant went into effect in December 2011, while all of the projects to be implemented under it should be completed before the end of this year.

MCA-Jordan is implementing three main projects under the grant in Zarqa Governorate, some 22km east of Amman, where around 1.4 million people live according to the 2015 population census.

The projects include the rehabilitation and expansion of the wastewater network, the rehabilitation and restructuring of water networks and the expansion of the As Samra Wastewater Treatment Plant.

The grant also covers a project to improve household water systems and decrease domestic water costs.

The project to expand As Samra Wastewater Treatment Plant was completed and started operation last October, while the wastewater project under which the company was planning to extend 169km of sewage pipelines was also completed, according to Zoubi.

Also in light of the financial savings, the company decided to increase the length to 230km of sewage pipelines and then to 300km just recently, he added.

“Extending new wastewater pipes to link more people to the service is vital; therefore, the company is using the financial savings to cover more areas,” Zoubi noted.

He underscored that linking one household to the sewage network costs $15,000-$16,000.

Meanwhile, construction on the water projects has also been completed, according to Zoubi, who noted that contractors are now in the process of cancelling the old water networks to ensure the supply is pumped through the newly extended network.

The company has extended new pipelines in 60 per cent of Zarqa, Ruseifa and Hashemiyeh, the CEO said, noting that new water projects were later announced to serve the remaining 40 per cent of the three areas.

“Once the projects are completed, water loss in Zarqa should drop from the current figure of more than 650 per cent to less than 35 per cent,” he noted.

Official figures indicate that there are 150,000 water subscribers in Zarqa, 70 per cent of whom are linked to the sewage network.