Jordan Times
Tuesday, May 4, 1999
Mahasneh refutes that Israel objects to Wihdeh Dam project with Syria
AMMAN — The government on Sunday stood firm in stressing that constructing the Wihdeh Dam on the Yarmouk River is a Jordanian-Syrian issue, refuting recent local media reports that Israel is opposing the long-awaited project.
“This is a Jordanian-Syrian project and is separate from the 1994 peace treaty with Israel, which has not informed us about any objection [to the dam],” Jordan Valley Authority Secretary General Dureid Mahasneh told the Jordan Times in response to reports that Israel had “warned” the Kingdom against launching the project.
On Sunday, a joint Jordanian-Syrian committee agreed in Damascus to go ahead with the plan and to provide the Kingdom with eight million cubic metres of water this summer from Syria's Dar'a Dam to help meet a 10 per cent projected shortage this year. The amount will be given at the expense of some irrigated areas in Syria's southern region. The committee also agreed to continue monitoring and preserving the basin of the Yarmouk, which begins in Syria, flows along the two countries' borders and then joins the Jordan River downstream from Lake Tiberias. The river reached its lowest level in recent history last week, its flow slowing to two cubic metres per second, according to the government.
The Wihdeh Dam is expected to have a storage capacity of 225 mcm of water and would help Jordan store additional water supplies from the Yarmouk River, which normally provides the Kingdom with 135 mcm annually. It should also help Syria generate electricity.
“I don't think there is an Israeli threat on the issue. This is a Syrian-Jordanian affair. It concerns joint lands and Israel has nothing to do with it,” said Minister of Water and Irrigation Kamel Mahadin, who concluded water talks with the Syrians on Sunday.
The dam, whose construction is expected to take two-and-a-half years, is part of an agreement signed in 1987. But construction has been delayed by lack of funds, political tension between the two countries over their regional roles and Israel's reservations over the dam pending a regional peace settlement.
Mahadin said Jordan will start to approach some Arab economic funds next month — with full Syrian backing — to finance the project. The dam, whose cost initially was estimated at JD283 million, was revised by Jordan to JD152 million in accordance with international standards. The Syrians, however, estimated the dam's cost at around JD70 million.