Jordan Times
Tuesday, April 13, 2004
King inaugurates Mujib Dam
By Rami Abdelrahman
MUJIB VALLEY His Majesty King Abdullah on Monday inaugurated the Mujib Dam,
designed to store 32 million cubic metres (mcm) of water and help meet a growing
demand for the scarce resource.
Located 100 kilometres south of Amman, between the governorates of Madaba and
Karak, the Mujib Dam is designed to store rainwater for domestic, industrial and
agricultural purposes. King Abdullah was briefed yesterday by Minister of Water
and Irrigation Hazem Nasser on how the dam functions to help Jordan cope with a
chronic water shortage. The JD54 million Mujib Dam increased the total capacity
of water storage in the dams to 217mcm, Nasser said. According to Jordan Valley
Authority Secretary General Zafer Alem, the total capacity of dams is expected
to reach 327mcm next year after the construction of the Wihdeh Dam on the
Jordanian-Syrian border which has a total storage capacity of 110mcm. Jordan
will need an additional 450mcm of water by 2025 to meet the needs of economic
growth and an increasing population, according to Water Ministry officials.
Funded by the Arab Fund for Economic and Social Development and the treasury,
the dam was constructed by a consortium of Greek and Bosnian companies as well
as Jordanian, Egyptian and German consultants. A system to monitor earthquake
activities was installed below the dam.
Disi
According to Nasser, Mujib Dam is the fifth of the ministry's JD2.5 billion six
strategic projects, expected to tackle water shortage. The sixth will be the
construction of the $650 million Disi Water Conveyance Project.
A consortium of local and foreign companies are expected to carry out the
venture. Their names will be officially announced soon, said Nasser. Work on
the project is expected to begin early 2005 and will be completed in five years.
The Disi conveyance is seen as a strategic project to provide the country with
around 100mcm of drinking water annually from some 65 wells of the ancient Disi
aquifer in the south.