Jordanian Prime Minister Bisher Khasawneh has said that a team comprising French companies Meridiam and Suez has been chosen to implement the country's multibillion-dollar national water project.

"The Special Procurement Committee has chosen Meridiam-Suez, the [sole] bidder for the national water carrier project, after an updated bid met all technical and financial requirements," the Jordan News Agency reported on 19 August, citing Khasawneh.

"The panel will now proceed with purchase procedures and enter into negotiations with the firm[s] for [the] implementation of the vital project," Khasawneh said.

Estimated to cost $2bn-$3bn, the Aqaba-Amman water desalination and conveyance build, operate and transfer project is Jordan’s single largest planned infrastructure scheme to date. It will pipe desalinated water from the southern Red Sea coast to the country’s northern regions.

The desalination component of the project will have the capacity to treat 835,000 cubic metres a day (cm/d) of water, although it is understood that the scope of the contract that will be awarded to the French consortium has a capacity of 300,000 cm/d.

The milestone reflects confidence on the part of major international investment groups in Jordan's economy, the prime minister said. He added that the evaluation was made after the cabinet authorised assessment by the procurement committee last week.

MEED reported in January that Jordan’s Water & Irrigation Ministry (MWI) received a single bid for the contract to develop and operate the planned Aqaba-Amman water desalination and conveyance project.

According to a source close to the project at the time, a team comprising France’s Meridiam and Vinci and Egypt’s Orascom submitted a bid for the contract in December.

The MWI prequalified five firms or teams to bid for the estimated $2bn contract. The other four prequalified bidders were:

• Acwa Power (Saudi Arabia)
• Huta Marine Works (Saudi Arabia) / Ajlan & Brothers (Saudi Arabia) / Almar Water Solutions (Spain)
• Marubeni Corporation (Japan)
• Naqel Water Solutions (Suez / CCC)

In November, the EU signed a €50m ($53m) grant contribution to the project with the European Investment Bank (EIB), in addition to adopting an additional €47m EU contribution.

This grant complements a new concessional loan of €100m from the EIB. All funding falls under the EU’s Economic and Investment Plan for the Southern Neighbourhood.

The latest contributions follow a €200m financing for the project signed by the EIB in December 2022, representing the first formal commitment of international support.

The MWI issued the request for proposals for the contract in March 2022 and initially gave qualified bidders until 6 September that year to submit proposals.

The bid submission date was revised several times until a final bid deadline of 5 December 2023 was set.

“The project could face some financing challenges,” said one source close to the project, citing its scale.

The conveyance segment of the project includes the construction of a seawater intake pump station, reservoir, pipeline, booster pump stations and freshwater collection pipes.

The project is expected to use clean energy, in line with the government’s commitment to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

US-headquartered CDM Smith is the main project consultant and is supported by Beirut-headquartered Dar Al-Handasah and Netherlands-based KPMG.