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The World Bank’s support for the $15.5 million feasibility studies continues to raise questions about the Bank’s application of its operational safeguard policies on the project.
The Jordan Times reported last week that feasibility studies are now underway for the proposed project, which entails building a 110 mile canal and tunnel system to convey water from the Red Sea to the Dead Sea. The British and French firms were awarded contracts in March to conduct the environmental and social assessment and feasibility studies, respectively, in a process overseen by the World Bank.
According to its terms of reference, the Bank’s role in the proposed Red – Dead Sea Canal is limited to that of co-sponsor and coordinator of the feasibility studies that are expected to last two years and cost $15.5 million, of which only $10.5 million were secured. The World Bank’s own operational policies stipulate that the study of alternatives be a core component of all environmental and social assessments, yet the language of the TOR issued by the Bank for the Red-Dead Sea studies omitted this aspect.
Under pressure from civil society, the Bank decided to conduct a separate study of alternatives to the canal, which will not be awarded to researchers through regular procurement processes, but rather by appointment. Aside from issues over the independence of the researchers, questions also remain about the sequencing of the studies, and whether the entirely separate alternatives study will bear on the final assessment. It is still unclear whether the Bank will have to source additional funds to finance the study of alternatives.
The ambitious construction project, estimated to cost anywhere between $800 million and $20 billion, was agreed to in principle by Jordanian, Israeli, and Palestinian authorities in 2005, and is intended to address drastic declines in the water level of the Dead Sea. These parties and potential investors also hope to utilize the transfer of water from the Red Sea to generate hydroelectric power, and to construct a desalination plant to provide drinking water.
However, the anticipated far reaching environmental, social, and economic consequences have generated a great deal of controversy from various segments of society throughout the region. This problem, along with the severe water scarcity of the region, has again stirred debate about the need to find a solution to this dilemma.
Many also argue that the project would not address the underlying cause of the Dead Sea crisis: mismanagement of the Jordan River. According to some critics, Middle East (FoE-ME), the current system of water management has “turned the Jordan River into little more than a sewage canal.” The group maintains that the World Bank failed to examine this aspect of the issue, the complexity of which would be dwarfed by the challenges posed by the proposed canal.
Resources
Feasibility, environmental studies under way, Jordan Times, May 28, 2008 (Trading Markets website)Water diversion has turned Jordan River into sewage canal – environmentalists, Jordan Times, April 21, 2006 (MENAFN website)
Red Sea – Dead Sea: The Study Process (World Bank website)