Fund secured for studies of Red-Dead canal project: official
15/12/2008 17:14
Funds for the multipurpose Red-Dead Canal project's feasibility study and
environmental assessment have been fully secured, local daily The Jordan Times
reported today.
"The two studies need US$15 million, but only US$10.5 million
were previously raised. Sweden and South Korea recently presented US$4 million
covering the deficit, allowing for the completion of the studies," said Jordan
Valley Authority Secretary General Musa Jamaini, who heads the project's
steering committee on the Jordanian side.
According to Jamaini, under the
agreement between the two nations and concerned parties, US$3 million will be
extended by the Swedish government and another US$1 million will be provided by
South Korea.
French company Coyne et Bellier is currently carrying out the
feasibility study for the project, while British firm Environmental Resources
Management is undertaking the environmental assessment.
"The two companies
are providing monthly progress reports to the project's steering committee,
which includes representatives from the World Bank and the project's three
parties (Jordan, Palestinians and Israel)," said Jamaini, noting that work on
the studies is going according to schedule.
The Red-Dead Canal project is
part of international efforts to save the Dead Sea, which has been shrinking at
the rate of one meter per year and may dry up in five decades, experts have
warned.
The environment-focused project seeks to pump 1 billion cubic meters
of water annually into the Dead Sea with aims to raise water levels from 408
meters below sea level to 315 meters below sea level.
The project entails the
construction of a 200-km canal along the border with Israel in Wadi Araba from
Aqaba on the Red Sea to the Dead Sea.
Xinhua
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