Jordan Times
Friday - Saturday, November 23 - 24, 2001
Officials expected to visit Syria for water talks
By Oula Al Farawati
AMMAN — Water Minister Hazem Nasser and Jordan Valley Authority Secretary General Thafer Alem are expected to head for Syria for water talks with their counterparts on Saturday.An informed source told The Jordan Times on Thursday that talks will mainly focus on the Wihdeh Dam and plans to modify the technical specifications of the prequalifying tender for the dam, which was floated in May.
Although the two officials were unavailable for comment, the source said the two sides are to discuss ways and means to prevent depletion of the Yarmouk River, which depends mainly on rainfall.
The flow of the river, according to the source, who preferred not to be named, has declined to 1 cubic metre per second, compared to 3 cubic metres three years ago.
The Wihdeh Dam will be constructed in the Yarmouk Valley. Its feasibility depends on the flooding of the river in winter.
The move to modify the specifications, said the source, came after the ministry conducted a confidential technical study on the Yarmouk River, which proved that the water quantity that could be saved in the dam was less than expected. “The height and storage capacity of the dam are expected to be lowered,” said the source.
The dam was designed to be 100 metres high with a storage capacity of 225 million cubic metres. It is intended to supply irrigation water to some 47,000 dunums in the Jordan Valley, and 50 million cubic metres to Amman and Zarqa for domestic use annually. It should also generate 18,800 megawatt-hours of electric power per annum.
The construction of the roughly $220 million dam will take a minimum of 40 months to complete. Its financing, which was agreed upon in 1985, will be supplied through a loan by the Kuwait-based Arab Fund for Economic and Social Development, the Jeddah-based Islamic Development Bank and the Abu Dhabi Development Fund.