Major water project a few months away

$370 million-plan will double supply to Beirut

The Cabinet has finally ratified a $200 million loan agreement with the World Bank to supply areas of Greater Beirut with drinking water from the Awali River.

The loan's grace period is five years. Reimbursement will begin in 2017 and will be concluded by 2023. Loan payments will be made in semi-annual installments equivalent to three percent of the loan value. The loan only covers part of the project’s total cost which amounts to $370 million. The Beirut Mount Lebanon Water Establishment (BMLWE) will finance the remaining amount.

The execution of the project will be handled by the Council of Development and Reconstruction (CDR) and Beirut’s water authority. “We will be responsible for building new water networks, local reservoirs, pumping stations, as well as a water treatment plant in Wardanieh,” said Randa Daher, project coordinator at BMLWE.

The project is expected to carry some 40 million cubic meters of water per year to a reservoir connected to all areas of Greater Beirut. This amount aims to boost supply to all the areas at altitudes lower than 300 meters, all the way from Khalde to Nahr al-Mot in Dora.

“We launched studies in 2011. The project’s execution will hopefully start by early next year,” Daher said. Studies for water networks are being handled by Nazih Taleb’s Dar al-Handasa.

Currently, the bulk of Beirut’s drinking water is brought in from Jeita. Daher said: “Once work on the Bisri dam is finalized, Beirut will be supplied with double, if not triple, the amount of water it now receives.”

All deals with contractors will be made through tenders. The CDR is currently preparing pre-qualification documents, and the BMLWE is working on a book of conditions for the works. A project management unit will be created to supervise the project’s implementation.