‘$12m project to link Naour District households to sewage network under way’

AMMAN — Construction of a $12-million project to connect households in west Amman’s Naour District to the sewage network is under way, according to officials at the Ministry of Water and Irrigation.

The project is being implemented in two phases, Minister of Water and Irrigation Hazem Al-Naser, said in a statement e-mailed to The Jordan Times, noting that it is funded by a grant from the USAID.

“The project will uplift the services and environmental conditions in Naour District by linking areas in western Amman, which are not currently covered with sewage services, to the wastewater network,” Al-Naser said in the statement.

The ministry recently signed the agreement for the project’s second phase, under which 34km of main wastewater pipelines will be extended and 1,400 household sewage pipes will be installed to serve 10,000 subscribers in Marj Al Hamam, Um Al Quttain, Naour and Manshiyeh.

Ministry spokesperson Omar Salameh said that the project will improve the health and environment conditions and protect surface and underground water sources from pollution by ending reliance on cesspits.

The project is one of the many ventures listed in the ministry’s $930-million strategy to increase households’ connectivity to the wastewater network in Amman and Zarqa, Salameh told The Jordan Times.

Launched in April, the Amman and Zarqa wastewater strategy seeks to raise households’ connectivity to the wastewater network from the current 80 per cent to 90 per cent, by the year 2025.

It entails the implementation of 21 projects, including the construction of new wastewater treatment plants, the expansion and refurbishment of existing plants, and the installation of new sewage networks.

With the execution of the projects, the Kingdom will increase the amount of treated wastewater from the current 115 million cubic metres per year, to 250 million cubic metres, by the year 2025, according to the ministry.

The treated wastewater will increasingly substitute the use of fresh water for industrial purposes, as well as the irrigation of certain cultivations in the Jordan Valley and south of Amman.