RAMALLAH, Wednesday, May 17, 2023 (WAFA) - Under the auspices and presence of the Prime Minister, Mohammad Shtayyeh, several agreements were signed today at the Prime Minister's Office in Ramallah.in favor of the local government and water sector at a value of $103 million.
The Prime Minister said that there will not be any Palestinian village, town or camp without a water network in Palestine, since these agreements include the implementation of water networks to a number of villages that are still without water networks to this day in Jenin.
He thanked the donor countries and the World Bank for the continuous support for the development of the water and sanitation sector in Palestine, especially the major water desalination projects in the Gaza Strip, and the rest of the projects in the West Bank, indicating that water in Palestine has three dimensions: political, technical, and commercial.
"Despite the importance of technical solutions to solve water issues in Palestine, the water here does not only need technical solutions, but rather it is a political issue and an issue of water rights we want to restore," he said.
"Israel steals 600 million cubic meters of Palestinian groundwater, which amounts to about 800 million cubic meters, and diverts it into its cities and settlements, and sells us our water at double the price, which forces the government to subsidize the sold water with one shekel per cubic meter," explained Shtayyeh, adding, "One-third of the West Bank's water is used inside Israel, and while the Israeli citizen consumes 430 liters of water per day, the Palestinian consumes only 80 liters, which is less than the global average."
Talking about the projects, Shtayyeh said they intersect with the national plan to enhance the steadfastness of the people and provide them with distinguished services to enhance their steadfastness on their land, towards ending the occupation and establishing a sovereign and viable State of Palestine with Jerusalem as its capital, which is the ultimate goal that our international partners support and participate in."
The first agreement is funded by the World Bank and donor countries (Netherlands, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, the United Kingdom, Australia, Portugal, Italy and Finland) for the infrastructure program at a value of $51 million for the benefit of the Palestinian Water Authority in order to develop the water and sanitation infrastructure in Jenin Governorate, and other governorates in the West Bank.
The second and third agreements were signed in favor of the Ministry of Local Government and the Municipal Development and Lending Fund, with a total amount of $52 million, of which $30 million provided by Germany and $22 million provided by the World Bank, in favor of municipal infrastructure and capacity building.
The agreements were signed by Minister of Local Government Majdi al-Saleh, Head of the Water Authority Mazen Ghoneim, Undersecretary of the Ministry of Finance, Farid Ghannam, Representative of the World Bank in Palestine, Stefan Emblad, and Head of Division Economic Development and Education at the German Development Bank, Jan Wegelmann, in the presence of Anne-Sophie Beckedorf, Chargé d’Affaires of the German Representative Office in Ramallah.
Beckedorf, said that “this support from Germany is important in order to improve the infrastructure, services and reform of the water sector in more than 150 Palestinian communities and municipalities, and in cooperation with international donors to support our partners in Palestine."
The representative of the World Bank in Palestine, Stefan Emblad, said: "Working on these projects in coordination with the Palestinian government and in partnership with donors in order to provide and increase a more stable supply of water and sustainable municipal services for the Palestinian people. This new funding aims to improve the performance of Palestinian institutions and expand the range of services provided to the people, and mitigating risks associated with climate change and natural disasters.”
M.K.
