Jordan Times
Wednesday, March 22, 2000
Mahadin announces intention to issue tenders for
exploitation of Hallabat and Lajoun aquifers
By Dana Charkasi
THE HAGUE — The government will issue tenders for the exploitation of two aquifers next month to supply the cities of Amman, Zarqa and Karak with an additional 21 million cubic metres annually of fresh water, Minister of Water and Irrigation Kamel Mahadin said on Tuesday.
Mahadin, who was speaking to journalists at The Hague on the fifth day of the Second World Water Forum, said a ministerial declaration drafted on Tuesday includes the exploitation of the Hallabat and Lajoun aquifers. The projects are expected to cost around JD18 million. It will be financed totally by the government.
“We are speaking about a medium- to long-term project that is going to last for 30 to 50 years,” Mahadin told the Jordan Times on the sidelines of the press conference.
The Hallabat aquifer, which is also known as the “corridor project,” will supply 10 MCM annually to Amman and Zarqa and is estimated to cost around JD10 million. The Lajoun aquifer is expected to supply 8 MCM annually of freshwater to Amman and 3 MCM to Karak and is expected to cost JD8 million.
Mahadin said the Ministerial Declaration on Water Security in the 21st century — which will be finalised on Wednesday — is important. But he said “meeting representatives [of] private sector companies, to check out the possibilities of meeting, to study all the water problems” is even more important to Jordan.
The minister said that most of the points of the declaration were already being implemented in Jordan.
“We are — and will continue — to implement water rationing, water resource management, protection of our aquifers, privatisation and awareness raising.”
“We will implement sensible recommendations, such as the sharing of water, sharing of data and information, seasonal water rationing, food for everyone,” Mahadin said.
Mahadin also said that Jordan's goals are the better management of available water resources and finding new water resources to alleviate chronic water shortage.
Privatisation of the water sector and the more efficient management of water used in municipalities and agriculture are the key points in water resource management.
Projects to find new water resources are already envisaged in large-scale projects such as the planned exploitation of the Disi aquifer, the exploitation of brackish water in the Jordan Valley, the construction of the Wahda Dam between Jordan and Syria, seawater desalination and water import from Turkey, Mahadin said.
He added that the last two projects could only be implemented with the participation of both Israel and the Palestinians and that it was hoped that Syria would also join in future cooperation in the area.
Although there were several critical voices during the conference with regard to a global trend of privatising the water sector, Mahadin praised the work of Suez-Lyonnaise des Eaux, which has a major water and wastewater management contract for greater Amman.
Several representatives of the trade union Public Services International (PSI) on Tuesday stated that the privatisation of the water sector worldwide has reflected negatively on populations.
Services provided by private companies in general would not become more efficient and water costs would rise since the services of private multinational companies are profit-oriented. Also, PSI said, water is a common good and should not be controlled by multinational companies and banks.
“When you look at these companies and who they're targeting, it is colonialism all over again,” said Hans Engelberts, general secretary of PSI during a press conference.
But Mahadin said the government is satisfied with Jordan's limited experiment in water privatisation.
“We are happy and content with it, and we want to promote it. Now, we have 30 per cent less customer complaints,” Mahadin said.
Mahadin also called for the establishment of an Arab water council in order to jointly work on the water problems in the region.
The main challenges stated in the draft Ministerial Declaration of The Hague on Water Security in the 21st Century are: To meet basic needs, recognising that access to safe and sufficient water and sanitation are basic human needs; to securing food supply through enhancing food security, particularly for the poor and vulnerable; to protect ecosystems by ensuring their integrity through sustainable water resources management; to share water resources, promote peaceful cooperation and develop synergies between different uses of water at all levels; to manage risk and provide security from floods, droughts, pollution and other water-related hazards; to value water by managing the resource in a way that reflects its economic, social, environmental and cultural values for all its uses; to move towards pricing water to reflect the cost of its provision; and to govern water wisely and ensure good governance.
Ministers of 115 governments during the conference presented papers on their countries' water situation and possible solutions to their respective situations. The Ministerial Declaration should include the vision and ideas of all participating governments and recommend actions to solve the global water problems. The declaration will be finalised on Wednesday, World Water Day.
Gorbachev calls on Mideast to cooperate in
water affairs
By Dana Charkasi
THE HAGUE — Former Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev on Tuesday said all countries in the Middle East need to cooperate in order to alleviate the chronic water problem in the region and to avert a serious confrontation over water.
Speaking at a press conference with Arab journalists, during the Second World Water Forum, Gorbachev, who is president of the Green Cross, an organisation bringing together water experts, private sector representatives and NGOs working in the field of water issues, said: “All the leaders (of the region) have said the same thing: unless we find a solution to this problem in the next 10 to 15 years, we might see a conflict in the Middle East that will be worse than the current conflict.”
Asked about Russia's future role in the Middle East, Gorbachev said Russia is very much involved in its own domestic affairs. “..Russia became much weaker, economically, politically, the Russian Federation has weakened, Russian science has weakened, and the Russian role in the world has also become less than before. Russia is absorbed with its domestic problems,” he said.