Jordan and Israel have signed an agreement on Thursday to build a $900 million water desalination plant in the Gulf of Aqaba and a pipeline that links the Red Sea with the Dead Sea, Reuters reports.
The desalination plant will be constructed in the southern Jordanian port of Aqaba on the Red Sea and will desalinate water that will be shared by Israelis and Palestinians and the byproduct of the process will be sent north in a 112-mile pipeline to the Dead Sea, according to the report.
Jordan, whom is facing a severe water crisis, said that the two projects were crucial to providing a source of fresh water to the kingdom.
“The deal will help satisfy Jordan’s increasing water needs for development,” Jordan’s water minister, Hazem al Nasser, said after the agreement was signed.
According to the report, the desalination plant will produce at least 80 million cubic meters annually and Israel will purchase it at a cost of up to 40 million cubic meters with the remainder going to Aqaba.
Jordan’s Water Minister, Hazem al Nasser, said that the pipeline will pump 300 million cubic meters annually of Red Sea water to the Dead Sea.
Israeli Silvan Shalom said the project would supply water from the plant to farmers in southern Israel and drinking water to northern Israel.
The water desalination plant will take close to 3 years to build, the report says.
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