Jordan Times
Monday, December 11, 2006
Red-Dead Canal
feasibility study launched
By Hana Namroqa
DEAD SEA — Jordan, the Palestinian Authority and
Israel on Sunday announced the launch of the Red-Dead Sea Water Conveyance Study
and Environmental and Social Impact Assessment.
France, Japan, the Netherlands and the US have already contributed $8.8 million
to fund the $15 million feasibility study.
The beneficiary parties requested the World Bank to coordinate donors’ financing
and manage the implementation of the study, which is scheduled to start in the
first quarter of 2007, while the companies willing to invest in the project will
be contacted in the meantime.
Government officials, including Minister of Planning and International
Cooperation Suhair Al-Ali and Minister of Water and Irrigation Thafer Alem,
Israeli Minister of National Infrastructure Benyamin Ben-Eliezer, the
Palestinian president’s economic adviser, Mohammad Mustafa, World Bank
representative Inger Andersen and representatives of donor countries attended
the meeting.
The project seeks to link the Dead Sea with the Red Sea by way of a
180-kilometre pipeline, pumping around 1,900 million cubic metres of water
annually from the Red Sea.
“The study is an open investigation into the feasibility of a water conveyance
system… the outcome of the study will serve as a tool for stakeholders to
determine whether the transfer of water from the Red Sea to the Dead Sea is
feasible, taking into account all relevant aspects including technical,
economic, financial environmental and social factors,” World Bank director of
sustainable development for the Middle East and North Africa region, Inger
Andersen, said yesterday.
The project will alleviate the pressure on renewable and nonrenewable water
resources in the region by providing about 850 million cubic metres of potable
water annually.
It will also generate electrical power which will be used in economic
development of the area located between the southern coast of the Dead Sea and
the Gulf of Aqaba.
“The study is essential in promoting sustainable development of the entire
Jordan Valley basin… it tackles the greatest threat of the future of the Dead
Sea, develops new water resources and creates new energy sources in a
resource-rich but largely untapped area,” Mustafa told the participants.
Meanwhile, Ben-Eliezer highlighted the importance of the project, saying it goes
beyond protection of the Dead Sea since the economic cooperation would cement
the peace process in the region.
Experts have predicted that the Dead Sea will dry up in 50 years unless urgent
action is taken.
The sea level has been dropping at the rate of one metre per year, largely due
to diversion of water from the Jordan River for agricultural and industrial use.
During the past 20 years alone, the level has dropped by more than 30 metres.
The Red-Dead canal project will be implemented in three phases including
construction of the pipeline, a desalination plant operated by the hydroelectric
power generated from the level difference between the Red Sea and the Dead Sea,
and the transfer of desalinated water to the beneficiary parties.