AMMAN - Fifty per cent of the Disi Water Conveyance Project is completed and the water mega-venture is now ahead of schedule, according to a source involved in the implementation of the project.

Security concerns earlier this year in the southern Mudawara area, the main location of the strategic Disi Project, held back progress in the vital scheme, prompting GAMA, the Turkish company implementing the project, to draw up a “catch-up plan” to compensate for the delay.

“Work on the project has been accelerated over the past two months to make up for the delay. Over 50 per cent of the project is now implemented,” the source, who preferred to remain unnamed, told The Jordan Times.

A total of 99 per cent of the project’s engineering works are now completed, while procurement of the materials reached 85 per cent and 99 per cent of the pipes have arrived in Jordan from Turkey, according to the source.

“A hydrostatic test was carried out recently on six kilometres of pipes to ensure that the pipes will not leak or are damaged,” the source said, adding that 50 kilometres of pipes will be laid down in trenches in different locations by the end of this month.

Some 340 kilometres of pipes are needed to complete the project, which entails the construction of a pipeline to convey water from the ancient Disi aquifer in southern Jordan to Amman.

Under the Disi project, which started in 2007 and is slated for completion in early 2013, 64 wells will be drilled, 55 of which will be used for the generation of water, while nine will serve as piezometer wells to measure the elevation of water.

Forty-six of the 55 water generation wells will be used for water extraction, while the remaining nine will be “on standby” and only used in cases of emergency, according to the Disi Water Company (DIWACO).

Water generation wells will be dug at a depth of 600-700 metres, while the piezometer wells will be at a depth of 400 metres, according to DIWACO officials, who expect the wells to generate water for a minimum of 50 years.

Being carried out on a build-operate-transfer basis, the Disi project will provide the capital with 110 million cubic metres of water via the pipeline, which will pass through several water stations in Maan, Tafileh, Karak and Madaba.

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