AMMAN: Jordan, was officially opened on Thursday in the presence of water and irrigation minister Ali Al-Ghezawi and the Italian ambassador to Jordan Giovanni Brauzzi. The project aims to exploit water resources to the benefit of agriculture and animal farming in the area. The dam has a capacity of 1 million cubic metres and measures 27.7 m in height. It was built within the framework of Italy’s support to Jordan in improving its water and sanitation system and financed under a 16-million-euro debt swap agreement signed by the two governments on May 22, 2011. The agreement aims to promote the transfer of skills and technology in key sectors such as water management and public health.
The Al Lajjoun project cost in the region of 7.2 million euros and the remainder is being used to co-finance the expansion of an existing dam in Al Waleh in the Madaba governorate from 9 million to 25 million cubic metres. A second phase of the programme foresees an additional 50-million-euro investment in debt-swap agreements to be negotiated on a bilateral level between Italy, Jordan and Lebanon.
