AMMAN, Jordan

Jordan signed a preliminary agreement on Sunday to begin a major project for desalinating and transporting water from Aqaba south of the kingdom to the capital Amman.

The agreement was inked with a consortium led by two French companies, Meridiam and Suez, to address water shortages in the kingdom.

Jordan is one of the most water-scarce countries in the world.

The project aims to desalinate 300 million cubic meters of seawater annually from the Gulf of Aqaba, according to the state news agency Petra.

It involves a seawater intake system from the Gulf of Aqaba, a state-of-the-art desalination plant, a 450-kilometer pipeline to transport freshwater to Amman, and renewable energy components to power the system.

The Meridiam-Suez consortium will finance, design, construct, operate, and maintain the system for a concession period that includes construction and 26 years of operation.

After the concession ends, the project will be handed over to Jordan’s Ministry of Water and Irrigation as a national asset.

When operational, it is expected to supply 300 million cubic meters of drinking water annually, enough to meet the needs of around four million people.

Jordan currently relies on water imports from Israel as part of agreements signed under the 1994 peace treaty between the two countries.

Israel provides Jordan with 50 million cubic meters of water annually from the Sea of Galilee, delivered via the King Abdullah Canal. In 2021, an additional agreement allowed for the purchase of 50 million cubic meters of water under the terms of the Wadi Araba Peace Agreement.

*Writing by Ikram Kouachi in Ankara