AMMAN - The government on Tuesday rejected as baseless reports of a delay in the implementation of the multimillion-dollar Disi Water Conveyance Project, saying the mega-project is "on track as planned".
A senior water official complained last week in statements to a local newspaper about a delay in the implementation of the project on the part of GAMA, the Turkish company carrying out the project.
But after a meeting held yesterday between the Ministry of Water and Irrigation and GAMA, the ministry's spokesperson and assistant secretary general, Adnan Zu'bi, said work on the Disi project is going according to schedule.
"During the meeting, directors from GAMA reviewed the executive and financial plans and progress on the project, and underscored that the implementation of the Disi project is in accordance with the agreements signed between the ministry and the company," Zu'bi told The Jordan Times yesterday.
Implementation of the Disi project's first phase kicked off in mid-March. It entails extending pipes from Madaba Bridge to Dabouq, on the western outskirts of Amman, while the second phase entails extending a pipeline from a plant in Madaba to the Abu Alanda area, southeast of the capital.
"The first phase ends in mid-September; there is still time... we can evaluate if progress is made or not once the period ends," Zu'bi noted.
To be carried out on a build-operate-transfer basis, the project entails constructing a 325-kilometre pipeline that will convey water from the ancient Disi aquifer in the south of Jordan to Amman.
The Disi project is expected to supply the capital with 100 million cubic metres of water annually by the end of 2012.
The water will be transferred to Amman via a pipeline, which will pass through several water stations in Maan, Tafileh, Karak and Madaba. The project went into effect on June 30 last year after the financial closure was signed.
By Hana Namrouqa
© Jordan Times 2010
