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Ammon News - AMMONNEWS - Minister of Planning and International Cooperation, Imad Fakhoury, said the total aid commitments from Germany to Jordan in 2016 have reached 471.7 million euros, some 153 million euros of which are humanitarian aid related to Syrian refugees and the rest are bilateral development support or projects related to host communities within the Jordan Response Plan to the Syrian refugees' crisis (JRP) 2016-2018.

The German aid to the Kingdom has reached a "historic" level, Fakhoury noted, adding that the majority of the provided, 400 million euros, aid were in grants and 70 million euros were soft loans.

Jordan and Germany has signed all of the aid agreements except for 130 million euros to be signed in the first quarter of 2017.

Meanwhile, the Planning and International Cooperation Minister Imad Fakhoury and Water and Irrigation Minister Hazem Nasser on Tuesday signed a soft loan and grant agreements worth 33 million euros to support water and sewage sector.

The financial support, provided by the KfW Entwicklungsbank (German Development Bank) will be used for water supply projects and improving sewage networks to save water resources, according to a planning ministry statement.

Fakhoury said that the first agreement is a complementary grant worth 3 million euros for a project to enhance water supply of Syrian refugees' host communities.

It aims at improving drinking water supply for residents and Syrian refugees in the northern governorates, Fakhoury noted, adding that the Jordanian-German talks and meetings to follow up on the German development and cooperation programme for 2016 have resulted in adding the 3 million euros increasing the project's total funding to 13 million euros.

Fakhoury said that the second agreement is a soft loan worth 30 million euros to fund the first phase of the sewage project to protect water resources.

It aims at the rehabilitation wastewater collection systems, improving energy efficiency, and building wastewater treatment plants, power generation from wastewater, and covering the costs of consultative services related to the programme.

The government will pass the whole loan cash to the Water Authority of Jordan (WAJ) to implement the project, the minister said.

The repayment period will be 15 years including a five-year grace period and a fixed interest rate of 0,82 per cent for the total value of the loan.

The minister thanked the German government for its continues support to the kingdom, expressing keenness on more future cooperation to support vital sectors such as water, education and sewerage in addition to other priority projects.

He also expressed appreciation for supporting Jordan during the London conference on supporting Syria and the region.

Meanwhile, Fakhoury met with the Special Representative of the German Federal Government for the Middle East Stability Partnership, Joachim Rucker.

They discussed progress in the Jordan Compact especially implementing decisions related to simplifying the rules of origin for Jordanian production, the pledged German aid for 2016, and future agreed-upon projects.

Fakhoury stressed that the Kingdom had already reached its limit in shouldering the burden of hosting large numbers of Syrian refugees on the behalf of the world, urging the international community to honour its pledges towards helping Jordan not only for 2016 but for the next two years.