Infrastructure Water projects take priority in Jordan’s PPP pipeline By Chris Hamill-Stewart February 26, 2025, 2:49 AM Alamy via Reuters A man delivers water by truck in Wadi Rum, Jordan. The country is one of the most water-stressed in the world, according to the World Bank Projects worth $1bn in 2025 Seven PPP tenders to launch Desalination crucial to country Jordan is planning to launch public-private partnerships (PPP) valued at more than $1 billion this year – and that figure may soon rise to $2 billion, according to an official. Hamza Alhajaya, head of Jordan’s PPP unit, told AGBI that Jordan is already expecting to publish tenders for seven projects in 2025 worth a total of around $1 billion. “Our pipeline is growing month by month. We are expecting to add two new projects by next month,” said Alhajaya. The country is planning multiple education projects, a fleet of 250 public buses, toll roads and energy projects. But it is water that dominates Jordan’s PPP strategy. A major water project already underway is the Aqaba-Amman water desalination and conveyance project, which Alhajaya estimates is worth JD4 billion ($5.6 billion). The plant will be the second largest in the world and is due to produce up to 40 percent of the country’s drinking water consumption. Desalination is crucial to Jordan because the country has less than 100 cubic metres of freshwater per person annually, making it one of the most water-stressed countries in the world, according to the World Bank. The facility will supply more than 300 million cubic metres of drinking water per year to Amman, the capital, and Aqaba, a port in the south, and will include 445km of pipelines to transport the desalinated water from the Red Sea. In January 2025, a consortium led by Meridiam, a French infrastructure asset manager, and its subsidiary Suez, announced it had won the contract to operate the plant. Early works and contract finalisation are underway. Alhajaya said financial close is expected by the end of 2025. In 2022 the European Investment Bank signed a €200 million ($222 million) loan with Jordan for the project after the World Bank’s International Finance Corporation pledged to invest up to $400 million. “Once this project is operational, there will be continuous water supply, 24/7, so people will no longer have to ration water,” Souad Farsi, the EIB’s representative to Jordan, said in 2023. EU’s $3bn to back Jordan’s economy amid challenges A thirst for action: Jordan must resolve its severe water crisis Jordan gets $250m funding to tackle water crisis PPPs are an important financing mechanism for economies that may otherwise struggle to access the capital needed for strategic infrastructure projects because of lower credit ratings. Jordan is rated BB- by S&P Global. Alhajaya said that the government is also “working to include” a pumped storage hydropower plant at Wadi Mujib in western Jordan – a $1 billion project – in the country’s PPP pipeline. Alhajaya said that his office currently has registered seven projects in its pipeline worth $1 billion. If the Wadi Mujib pump hydrostorage is added the total becomes almost $2 billion, he said. To date, Jordan has executed more than 47 projects worth over $10 billion, he said. According to the World Bank, between 1990 and 2023, 249 PPPs were completed in the Middle East, with a total investment of $72 billion.
