AMMAN— The
European Bank has provided the
government with a sovereign loan of 30 million euros, in a co-financing
operation in which the EU contributed with a grant of 30 million euros.
اضافة اعلان
The financing, which comes within the framework of the
European Bank’s response to the municipalities’ dealing with refugees, will
enable the Ministry of Water and Irrigation to build a modern wastewater
treatment plant that will increase the capacity of the sewage network to serve
up to 1 million people, including Syrian refugees living in Amman and Zarqa, who
are not connected to the main sewage networks.
The new Ghabawi wastewater treatment plant will have a
capacity of 24,750 cubic meters per day, and will replace an existing facility
at the Ain Ghazal treatment plant. The new plant will also contribute to
mitigating environmental risks.
In addition, the project will contribute to providing
employment and certified training opportunities for about 200 youths in plant
management skills, funded by the Netherlands through the multidonor account for
the Southern and Eastern Mediterranean region of the European Bank for
Reconstruction and Development provided by Australia, Finland, France, Germany,
Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Taipei China, and the UK.
The loan agreement was signed by the European Bank for
Reconstruction and Development at the Jordanian
Ministry of Planning and International Cooperation, in the presence of the Minister of Planning and
International Cooperation Nasser Al-Shraideh, the Minister of Water and
Irrigation Muhammad Al-Najjar, the EU Ambassador to Amman Maria
Hadjitheodosiou, and the official in charge of the Bank’s Eastern Mediterranean
operations, Philip ter Woort.
“We are very proud of the Jordanian government’s
support to build a modern wastewater treatment plant that will provide services
to families not connected to the main networks in Amman and Zarqa,” said ter
Woort. Most importantly, this station will mitigate the environmental impact
associated with the current reception facility in Ain Ghazal as well as
increase Jordan’s resilience in refugee hosting areas affected by the current
water crisis.
“We are
committed to helping Jordan achieve integrated and sustainable management of
the country's water sector,” said Hadjitheodosiou. “This support for the
Ghabawi project stems from this commitment through which the EU, its member
states, and its financial institutions focus on models that integrate green
solutions in the energy, water and food sectors.”
For his part, Shraideh expressed his appreciation for
the support provided by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development
and the EU to Jordan, stressing the bank's efforts to mitigate the effects
created by the presence of Syrian refugees. “While this project comes at an
appropriate time, given the difficult economic and financial conditions that
Jordan is going through as a result of the
COVID-19 pandemic and the effects of
hosting
Syrian refugees, we realize that strengthening the economy requires
more investments on a large scale to increase growth rates and thus create job
opportunities,” he said.
Najjar described the project as “strategic” for the
water sector in Jordan. He said that it would “increase water collection in
Amman and Zarqa, and reduce the biological burden at Khirbet As-Samra plant.”
Since the start of its operations in 2012, the
European Bank has invested more than 1.5 million euros in various economic
fields in more than 60 projects in the Kingdom.
As part of the response to the European Bank's Empowerment
of Municipalities, a total of 180 million euros in European Bank financing and
130 million euros in grants have been raised so far. The Bank's priority in
Jordan is to support sustainable energy, finance private projects, and promote
infrastructure reform.
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