‘National Water Carrier’ bags international ‘Best Strategic Project 2019’ award

AMMAN — Jordan’s “National Water Carrier” project has won the “Best Strategic Project 2019” award after competing with over 100 global projects at the Infrastructure Leadership Forum held recently in Malaga, Spain, Minister of Water and Irrigation Raed Abul Saud said on Saturday.

The event, held in cooperation with the European Bank for Construction and Development and the Dutch Ministry of Infrastructure and Water Management, witnessed the participation of more than 400 CEOs of international companies, according to a Water Ministry statement. 

The forum brought together leaders of infrastructure in the southern and eastern Mediterranean regions, the statement said.

The minister noted that all procedures and terms of reference for the Aqaba-Amman desalination and water transport project (the national carrier project) have been completed.

He added that studies will be finished before the end of 2019 to proceed with the bidding process and that the actual implementation of the project will begin during the first quarter of 2021. 

He said that the project is “garnering increasing global attention”, especially since Jordan is experiencing a rising demand for water and has “no alternatives” for providing safe and sustainable water resources besides desalinating the Red Sea’s water and transporting it to various governorates. 

The minister announced the project at the London Conference in February 2019, saying that it is to be implemented in partnership with the private sector based on the build-operate-transfer (BOT) system.

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

For his part, Project Director Issa Warr said that global recognition has prompted many international companies to show interest in the project during the forum.

Warr added that the project competed with more than 100 others presented during the conference in 10 important sectors, indicating that this achievement is a “strong boost” for project.

Participants highlighted that the purpose of this project is to provide safe and reliable fresh water supplies to Amman and other governorates along the route of the carrier line.

The project will include pipelines, reinforced pumping stations and tanks, the statement added.