AMMAN -- Senior Jordanian, Palestinian and Israeli water officials on Wednesday briefed diplomats from Arab and foreign countries in Amman on the progress of resource mobilisation for a $15.5 million feasibility study and environmental and social assessment for the Red Sea-Dead Sea Water Conveyance Study.
The meeting was designed to seek finance from donor countries for the project and present its social, tourism, environmental and economic advantages for the beneficiary countries -- Jordan, Palestine and Israel.
Vahid Alavian, lead water resources specialist at the World Bank Institute, said the US, France and Netherlands had confirmed their contribution to the study.
Alavian, who stressed the World Bank's commitment to go ahead with the study, pointed out that talks with Japan, Spain, Finland and other countries to help finance the study were in the final stages.
In July, the World Bank, which announced it would facilitate the funding of the study during the World Economic Forum in May, said it would establish a multi-donor trust fund to oversee the completion of the study in two years.
In a presentation yesterday, Minister of Water and Irrigation Thafer Alem said the feasibility study would assess the economic and environmental impact of establishing a 200-kilometre pipeline to convey Red Sea water to the Dead Sea.
Alem said the level of the sea has been dropping at the rate of a metre per year due to diversion of water from the Jordan River for agricultural and industrial use. He pointed out that experts expect the Dead Sea to dry up and disappear within 50 years if no action is taken to address the issue.
If implemented, the Red-Dead project will help reduce the environmental consequences of the shrinking level of the Dead Sea, whose salinity is 10 times more than seawater.
The canal, to be built along the border with Israel in Wadi Araba, would be used to generate electricity as the water will rise to 170 metres above sea level, then drop to 400 metres below sea level.
The project also entails the creation of a desalination plant, which will provide the Kingdom with 850 million cubic metres of potable water, the minister said, noting that the annual water deficit in the country stands at 500 million cubic metres.
Jacob Keidar, director of multilateral peace talks and water issues at the Israeli foreign ministry and Fadeel Kawash, head of the Water Authority at the Palestinian planning ministry, called on the international community to help finance the study as it was important for both sides. They said it would enhance peace and cooperation between them.
By Mohammad Ghazal
© Jordan Times 2005
