Tender for Aqaba-Amman water transport project set to be floated in February

AMMAN — The tender for the National Water Carrier Project is expected to be floated next February after USAID runs an environment study in early January, Water Minister Raed Abul Saud said on Wednesday.

During a meeting with the Lower House Finance Committee, Abul Saud added that the project is one of five that were included in the London Conference, noting that the expected cost of the project ranges between $1.5 billion and $2 billion. 

The minister noted that the Treasury will not incur any costs for implementing the scheme, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported

The project won the “Best Strategic Project 2019” award after competing with over 100 global projects at the Infrastructure Leadership Forum held recently in Malaga, Spain, Abul Saud said on Saturday.

At the time, he noted that all procedures and terms of reference for the Aqaba-Amman desalination and water transport project (the National Water Carrier Project) have been completed.

The minister said that the project will be conducted through building a national carrier system with a capacity of 130 million m3 in the first phase, which will be expandable to reach 250 million m3.

During Wednesday’s meeting, Abul Saud referred to floating tenders concerned with lowering the water loss that is estimated at 47 per cent, which is a “very high rate” compared with international percentages.

In turn, MP Khaled Bakkar, head of the committee, said that setting timetables for floating and implementing project tenders is of “high importance”.