Jordan signs 4 financing agreements with EU, Germany

AMMAN — Minister of Planning and International Cooperation Wissam Rabadi has signed four financing agreements in the water and education sectors in the presence of Sawsan Aruri, deputy director of the German Development Bank (KfW).

The first agreement is an additional European Union (EU) grant funding for a programme in the education sector amounting to 6 million euros, according to a Planning Ministry statement.

Three additional grant financing agreements for feasibility studies and a training component have also been signed in the water sector for  “Environmental and climate friendly sewage sludge disposal”, “Climate Protection Water Sector V” and “Energy Efficiency in the Water Sector II” amounting to a total of 2.2 million euros, the statement said.

The European Union will grant an additional 6 million euros for the implementation of an ongoing school construction programme in Jordan that was signed in 2018 with a total amount of 33 million euros. 

The objective of the school construction programme financed by the European Union is to assist the government of Jordan in responding to the needs of children and youth impacted by the Syrian crisis. 

This includes increased access to inclusive and child-friendly quality primary and secondary education for both, refugee and host community children. 

The EU-financed school construction programme, primarily channelled through the EU's Regional Trust Fund in response to the Syrian Crisis, the Madad Fund, will be implemented in parallel to a bilateral school construction programme financed by the German government amounting to 34 million euros that was signed last month.

The German government has made funds available for feasibility studies for the preparation of new projects in the water sector. 

The first agreement is signed for a study of “Environmental and climate friendly sewage sludge disposal” amounting to 700,000 euros. 

The study aims to identify and elaborate concepts for the safe, environmentally sound and climate-friendly final disposal of sewage sludge originating from the wastewater treatment plants — mainly in northern Jordan — including domestic faecal sludge delivered by tankers, the statement said.

The second agreement that is also financed by the government of Germany shall finance a study for a project under “Climate Protection in the Water Sector V” and amounts to 795,000 euros. 

The envisaged project to be studied aims at mitigating climate change risks related to water in the Jordan Valley. 

In particular, the study shall analyse the potential for water loss reduction at the King Abdullah Canal (KAC) with the aim to identify and compare suitable alternatives to reduce the water losses in the KAC by means of a multicriteria analysis in the most sustainable and efficient manner. With support of the potential project a substantial amount of fresh water shall be saved for the use of drinking purposes, read the statement.

The third agreement financed by the German government through KfW German Development Bank amounts to 700,000 euros and shall complement the project “Energy Efficiency in the Water Sector II — with training measures to support operational staff in the water sector in the field of energy efficiency and sustainable operations.  

The school construction programme will be implemented by the Ministry of Education and Ministry of Public Works and Housing and is financed by the European Union.

The water sector programmes will be implemented by the Ministry of Water and Irrigation and is financed by the Federal Republic of Germany through KfW Development Bank. 

KfW finances investments and advisory services on behalf of the German government. In Jordan the ongoing and envisaged projects with a main focus on education, employment promotion as well as water and sanitation amount to about 1.3 billion euros, the statement said.

Since its establishment in December 2014, an increasing share of the EU’s non-humanitarian aid for Syrian refugees and their host countries is provided through the EU Regional Trust Fund in Response to the Syrian Crisis, the Madad Fund. With contributions and pledges from 22 EU member states and Turkey, the fund has reached a total volume of 1.5 billion euros to date.

Large programmes focusing on education, livelihoods, health, socio-economic support, water and wastewater infrastructure — benefitting both refugees and their host communities — have already been approved by the fund’s board, for a total of more than 1.4 billion euros. 

Of this, about 1 billion euros have been contracted in over 50 projects to the Trust Fund’s implementing partners on the ground, now reaching more than 2 million beneficiaries, concluded the statement.