Jordan selects preferred bidder for $3bn water project

A consortium led by French investment firm Meridiam has been selected as the preferred bidder for Jordan’s $3.3 billion Aqaba Amman water desalination and conveyance project.

The Meridiam-led group includes Orascom Construction, Vinci Construction Grands Projets and Suez.

Jordan is one of the most water-stressed countries in the world, with its population facing absolute water scarcity, according to the United Nations. The project will address the growing chronic deficit in the country’s water supply.

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The facility, which includes one of the world’s largest desalination plants, will supply over 300 million cubic metres of drinking water per year to communities in Amman and Aqaba.

It will include 445 km of pipelines to transport the desalinated water from the Red Sea.

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The water project will increase the total annual available domestic water supply by nearly 60 percent, meeting the minimum daily quantity needs of water for drinking of more than three million people per year, the statement said, quoting the World Health Organization.

The European Investment Bank signed a €200 million ($222 million) loan with Jordan for the project in 2022 after the World Bank’s International Finance Corporation pledged investments of up to $400 million.