Work on second phase of Amman water project begins

AMMAN — Construction work in the second phase of the Amman Water System Improvement Project has commenced to improve water supply in the capital and reduce energy costs, officials said on Tuesday.

The project’s second phase includes building a new pump station at Dabouq in west Amman, improvements to the existing Al Kharabsheh Pump Station, and the installation of new valves and six kilometres of pipeline, the officials said.

The project will cost JD4,629,050, 85 per cent of which is funded by USAID and the remainder the Jordan Water Company (Miyahuna).

Water Minister Hazem Nasser and USAID Mission Director Beth Paige laid the cornerstone for the project’s second phase at the Dabouq Pump Station on Tuesday.

“The project is scheduled to be completed in October 2015… it seeks to improve water supply in several of Amman’s northern neighbourhoods, including Khalda, Al Rashid, Abu Nseir, Um Shujeirat, Sweileh and Shafa Badran,” Nasser said during the ceremony.

In addition, water mains will be extended in Al Hashemi and Tareq neighbourhoods, whose residents suffer from weak water supply, the minister said, underscoring that the project is one of many that accompanied the launch of the Disi Water Conveyance Project last year.

Paige said energy costs are increasing the cost of water in Jordan, noting that energy constituted about 50 per cent of Miyahuna’s operating costs in 2013, and will be high again this year due to the increase in energy prices.

Underscoring that one of the primary advantages of the project is energy savings, she explained that because the water supply will enter the system at a higher elevation than its delivery point in Amman, much of the city’s water will be delivered by gravity.

“Based on a study by USAID contractor CDM International, it is estimated that annual energy savings from the project’s two phases will be more than JD1 million annually,” Paige said during the event.

She highlighted that this project is a continuation of US-Jordanian cooperation in the water sector, which dates back over six decades. 

Since 2000 alone, the US government has spent nearly $700 million on Jordan’s water sector, including the Zara Maeen Water Supply Project and Assamra Wastewater Treatment Plant, Paige added.