Jordan’s $6bn water project nears financial close
11 November 2025
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Jordan’s $6bn Aqaba-Amman water desalination and conveyance project is nearing financial close, with the US-based International Finance Corporation (IFC) preparing to approve a $375m loan for the project.
Approval of the loan would be a key step towards financial close for the country’s largest water infrastructure development.
A senior official told MEED that the loan is likely to be approved at the board’s final review, scheduled for 18 December.
Earlier estimates had valued the project at $3.5bn, but the total cost has now risen to about $6bn, the source confirmed.
The scheme will be developed on a design-build-finance-operate-maintain-transfer basis under a 30-year public-private-partnership agreement.
A special-purpose vehicle (SPV), the National Carrier Project Company, has been set up to run the project as part of the partnership between Jordan’s Water & Irrigation Ministry and a consortium led by Paris-based investment and utility firms Meridiam and Suez.
Meridiam owns 90% of the equity in the SPV and Suez holds 10%.
According to an IFC disclosure in October, the financing will be supplemented by mobilised funds and hedging arrangements, alongside other development partners such as the European Investment Bank and Germany’s KfW.
MEED understands that the US International Development Corporation is also involved in co-financing for the project, which involves blended finance, combining concessional and climate-linked funding instruments.
Jordan's water scarcity
Known as the National Water Carrier Project, the development aims to meet about 40% of Jordan’s municipal water demand by 2040.
It will supply about 300 million cubic metres of potable water a year from the Red Sea to Amman and other regions.
The project is crucial to addressing Jordan’s severe water scarcity issue. As one of the world’s most water-stressed countries, it consumes nearly 1 billion cubic metres of water a year.
The domestic sector consumes approximately 50% of this, with only 61 cubic metres of water available per person a year, far below the global absolute water scarcity level of 500 cubic metres of water per capita.
The project’s cost has increased as the final design expanded beyond the original desalination and pipeline scope.
It now comprises three main components: a marine intake and outfall system and large-scale desalination plant in Aqaba, a 438 kilometre (km) conveyance pipeline delivering water to Amman and a 280MW solar photovoltaic plant in Al-Quweira to supply part of the project’s energy needs.
The conveyance system will cross the governorates of Aqaba, Ma'an, Tafila, Karak and Amman, largely following existing transport and energy corridors.
Associated facilities include a 60km transmission line to be operated by the National Electric Power Company (Nepco) and the expansion of two existing reservoirs in Amman.
The engineering, procurement and construction contract was previously awarded to a consortium including Egypt's Orascom Construction and France's Vinci Construction Grands Projets.
Construction is expected to start in 2026 and take four years.
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