‘More Zarqa residents to benefit from US-funded sewage network project’

AMMAN — More beneficiaries in Zarqa Governorate, 22km east of the capital, will have access to wastewater services through the $275 million grant programme funded by the US government’s Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC), a statement said Monday.

The statement quoted Water Minister Hazem Nasser and US Ambassador to Jordan Stuart E. Jones as making the announcement at a ceremony in Zarqa, following a proposal submitted earlier this year to MCC by the Millennium Challenge Account – Jordan (MCA-Jordan), the company that manages the MCC funded programme.

MCA-Jordan suggested expanding the scope of the Wastewater Network Project by adding up to 65 new kilometres of pipes to the Princess Haya neighbourhood in Zarqa Governorate, said the statement, which was e-mailed to The Jordan Times.

“MCA-Jordan has managed to reallocate an amount of around $16.4 million of the programme funds as a result of cost savings due to lower than anticipated construction costs for the Water Network Project, and lower than anticipated administrative costs, in addition to utilising contingency funds,” the statement quoted MCA-Jordan CEO Kamal Zoubi as saying.

Out of the $16.4 million allocated for new wastewater pipes in the Princess Haya neighbourhood, $600,000 will be used to construct a new building for the Water Authority of Jordan in Zarqa City to create sustainability for the MCC programme after its completion.

“I am delighted to highlight the fact that because of the programme’s transparent and efficient implementation — an implementation performed by Jordanians — there have been savings which can now be used for additional works in Zarqa,” the statement quoted Jones as saying.

According to Zoubi, the selection of neighbourhoods within the MCC programme in Zarqa Governorate was determined based on studies that took into consideration population density, geographical location, cost and other crucial elements.

“This is not an extension of the programme’s duration. New work still means that all projects need to be concluded before the MCC Jordan compact ends at the end of 2016,” Zoubi said.

MCC funds three main projects within its compact in Jordan, all in Zarqa Governorate: the Water Network Project, laying out around 800km of new pipes to decrease leakage and increase supply of water to residents; the Wastewater Network Project, providing some 30 kilometres of new sewage pipes for the Zarqa Governorate water utility; and the expansion of As Samra Wastewater Treatment Plant, treating 70 per cent of Jordan’s wastewater and producing clean treated water for irrigation in the Jordan River Valley.