Jordan Seeks To Speed Up Red Sea Desalination Project - Water Minister

AMMAN (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 14th April, 2021) Jordan wants to speed up the implementation of the project to obtain desalinated water from the Red Sea due to the lack of water resources, Jordan's Water Minister Mohammed Al Najjar told Sputnik on Tuesday.

"The Red Sea desalination project has existed for a long time. It was supposed to be a regional project involving the neighboring countries of Israel and Palestine, but for financial and technical reasons, as well as the need for Jordan to get fresh water as soon as possible, Jordan decided that it would only be its national project. We no longer have the opportunity to postpone its implementation," Al Najjar said.

He stressed that the project was not linked to last month's request to Israel to share water supplies, as the country has been suffering from a shortage this year.

Earlier on Tuesday Netanyahu reportedly green-lighted additional water supplies to the kingdom. The delay was linked to diplomatic tensions between the two middle Eastern states, according to media reports.

Notably, under the 1994 peace deal, Israel and Jordan are obliged to provide mutual allocations of water from the Jordan and Yarmouk rivers, as well as on bilateral assistance in case of water shortages, by developing existing and new water resources.

Amman is mulling the possibility of desalinating 300 million cubic meters per year from the Red Sea to rely only on its resources in the issue of water supply, the minister explained.