Arab Spring Reality Reflected in Water Buildout

On 20 August 2013 Jordan’s Cabinet announced it would move ahead with the US$980M Red Sea desalination project. The government intends to float a tender before the end of 2013 to initiate project development, which is to provide with approximately 550,000 m3/d of desalinated water. Included in the project scope will be to transfer the water to Israel to defray some of the project costs and to discharge brine into the Dead Sea. It is expected that the project will be organized on a BOT or BOO basis. The Jordan government expects to secure US$300-400 million in grants to finance the project.