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Ammon News - Jordan and Japan on Monday signed a grant agreement of $22.9 million to implement a renovation project to the Zay station that provides drinking water to Amman and Balqa.

The agreement was signed by Planning and International Cooperation Minister Nasser Shraideh, Japanese Ambassador to Jordan Shimazaki Kaoru and High Representative of the Japanese Agency for International Cooperation in Jordan (JICA) Noriharo Masugi, according to a ministry statement.

The deal aims at improving the quality of services offered to citizens through rehabilitating the station that provides a daily amount of 245,000 cubic metres of drinking water to central region areas.

The statement said that the renovation of the station will guarantee water supplies to Amman and Balqa areas, improve energy efficiency at the facility and reduce the operational costs in accordance with Water Ministry plans to decrease costs and preserve the environment.

Shraideh said that the grant comes in response to a request to the Japanese government for the purpose of saving operational costs by more than JD1.5 million annually, and ensuring stable water provision to Amman and Balqa through updated equipment.

Construction works include rehabilitating and replacing four stations for lighting water coming from the King Abdullah Canal towards the treatment station with an annual capacity of 90 million cubic metres, in addition to implementing maintenance works at the reservoirs and the course of the canal with a cost of some $22 million, according to the statement.

The Japanese ambassador voiced his government’s commitment to continuing support to the water sector in the Kingdom, noting that the Japanese assistance to the water sector in Jordan has totalled $250 million so far.

Meanwhile, Masugi highlighted the importance of the water sector in the Kingdom as a strategic sector that receives aid from JICA, noting that this grant follows a 1996 grant of $83.5 million to expand water supply from the Zay station, improving water provision to some 1.9 million Amman residents.