AMMAN — The International Monetary Fund (IMF) said that the government is preparing a roadmap for the financial sustainability of the water sector, to be adopted by the end of March 2022.
اضافة اعلان
According to Al-Mamlaka TV, the IMF stated that this roadmap would propose tangible reforms to “permanently improve the sector’s financial situation”, after the continuous losses in revenues by the Water Authority and water distribution companies.
A source from the Water Authority and the water distribution companies said that they “continued to bear the arrears,” which totaled around JD45 million
each by the end of September.
The source indicated that the government is taking measures to ease the water shortage, as Jordan is one of the world’s most scarce countries in terms of per capita levels of renewable water resources. Groundwater resources are also depleting at an unprecedented rate due to the pressure caused by population growth, including the influx of refugees and inadequate replenishment of aquifers because of reduced rainfall caused by climate change.
The report indicated that the National Water Carrier Project is a major public-private desalination project currently being prepared to help address water scarcity. It is expected to provide an additional 300 million cubic meters of water from 2028.
The report stated that the government will launch two projects worth JD1 billion this year, including the national water carrier between Aqaba and Amman, in partnership with the public and private sectors.
The report also revealed that the COVID-19 pandemic and changing climate conditions have exacerbated the financial challenges in the water sector, which confirms the importance of reforms.
The report also added that the losses in the water sector are still high, standing at 1.1 percent of the GDP in 2021.
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