Project record

Aqaba-Amman National Water Carrier marine works

The Gulf of Aqaba shoreline and coastal urban area, the marine setting for Jordan's National Water Carrier intake and outfall system

SUEZ

Jordan's National Water Carrier links a 300 million m3/year Red Sea desalination system to marine intake and brine-outfall works at Aqaba, a 438 km buried conveyance pipeline, four pumping stations, regulating tanks, and a 281 MW solar facility.

Project signal

Financing in Jordan

Treat financial close and marine-interface readiness as the controlling gates. The nearshore lagoon, cofferdams, outfall trench, temporary jetty, diffuser installation, marine monitoring, desalination plant, power supply, and long-distance conveyance system must move as one programme before the planned 2030 start-up can be credible.

Current status Final technical and legal agreement signed; financial close still pending as of 7 July 2026 Source confidence Confirmed

Location

Jordan / Middle East

Segment

Marine utilities

Status

Final technical and legal agreement signed; financial close still pending as of 7 July 2026 / Confirmed

Evidence reviewed

15 July 2026

Controlled taxonomy

Related sectors

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Knowledge context

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Project anatomy

Scope, counterparties, and execution logic

Client / authority
Jordan Ministry of Water and Irrigation / Water Authority of Jordan
Delivery parties
National Carrier Project Company, Meridiam, SUEZ
Contract route
Thirty-year public-private partnership under a build-own-operate-transfer / design-build-finance-maintain-operate-transfer concession with National Carrier Project Company
Execution window
The ESIA gives an indicative approximately 48-month build and the government retains a 2030 operating target. Construction remains conditional on financial close, which the Ministry of Water and Irrigation said on 7 July 2026 was still being completed.
Works package
A 300 million m3/year SWRO system with a shoreline intake lagoon and pumping station, nearshore outfall and diffuser, desalination plant, approximately 438 km buried steel conveyance pipeline, four pumping stations, regulating and pressure-control tanks, a 281 MW solar facility, substations, and transmission works.
Marine interfaces
The marine system combines shoreline excavation, temporary cofferdams, revetment and seawall work, nearshore trenching, a temporary jetty, floated and sunk outfall sections, diffuser placement, seabed protection, fish-recovery and intake controls, and brine-dispersion performance beside Aqaba's industrial and port zone and south of the marine reserve.
Commercial read
The concession and core developer structure are already established. Near-term value is most likely to sit in EPC and specialist supply-chain mobilisation, marine temporary works, nearshore trenching and pipe installation, surveys, environmental monitoring, diffuser and seabed-protection installation, commissioning support, and cross-package interface control rather than a new project-level concession competition.
Next milestone
Confirm financial close and notice to proceed, then verify marine-construction mobilisation, final intake and outfall design acceptance, environmental monitoring baselines, and the interface schedule linking the Aqaba works to the conveyance and power systems.

Material change register

What changed, when, and what it proves

Only source-bound events that alter phase, scope, counterparties, delivery, completion, commissioning, or acceptance are listed. A change can advance the record without proving the next gate.

The water ministry confirmed financial close was still incomplete

The ministry said it was continuing efforts to complete financial close and that close would pave the way for implementation. This is the latest public gate: it does not prove notice to proceed, marine mobilisation, accepted final design, physical intake or outfall work, or construction commencement.

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Jordan signed the final technical and legal agreement

The government marked completion of 16 months of technical, legal and financial negotiation and kept financial close and construction launch as later steps. The agreement advances contractual readiness; it is not financial close, a notice to proceed, marine-package mobilisation or physical construction evidence.

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AIIB approved USD 250 million of nonsovereign financing

AIIB approved its financing and set construction-phase environmental and social monitoring expectations. Lender approval contributes to the finance stack but does not establish that all financing conditions are met or that financial close, drawdown, NTP or marine works have occurred.

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EBRD approved a senior loan of up to USD 475 million

EBRD board approval set out the proposed senior financing and Category A environmental framework. The project remained at Approved rather than Signed or Implementing status, short of financial close or construction release.

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The lender disclosure fixed the current marine design and controls

The disclosed ESIA package defines the shoreline lagoon, possible cofferdam, nearshore trench, temporary jetty, approximately 3,000 mm outfall, eight-riser diffuser, seabed protection and marine monitoring sequence. Disclosure establishes the assessed design basis, not final design acceptance, permits discharge, construction start or installed marine geometry.

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EIB recorded the latest signature in a EUR 427 million support package

The EIB project record lists five EIB and EU financing or grant signatures through 24 July 2025, totalling EUR 427 million. These commitments support the wider funding plan but do not on their own prove project financial close, NTP or marine construction.

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The Meridiam-SUEZ consortium signed the 30-year concession

The concession created the project company and assigned long-term financing, construction and operating responsibility. SUEZ explicitly made construction conditional on financial close, leaving mobilisation and physical progress ahead.

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Delivery watch

Evidence needed next

Confirm financial close and notice to proceed, then verify marine-construction mobilisation, final intake and outfall design acceptance, environmental monitoring baselines, and the interface schedule linking the Aqaba works to the conveyance and power systems.

Decision watchpoints

  • Financial close and notice to proceed
  • Final marine intake, lagoon, outfall, and diffuser design
  • Cofferdam, temporary-jetty, trenching, and marine plant mobilisation
  • Aqaba marine-reserve, turbidity, fish-recovery, and brine-dispersion controls
  • Convergence of the marine works, desalination plant, 438 km conveyance system, and power facilities

Related records 2

Project availability status

This public project page is a tracked market record rather than a tender notice, contractual commitment, or commercial instruction. Use the status, confidence label, evidence-review date, and source note together when judging how much weight to place on the signal.

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Record control

Evidence reviewed date is not a project-event date.

IMWO changes phase, participants, scope, completion, or acceptance wording only when a dated source establishes the change. The review date records when the evidence set was checked; it does not claim that physical work changed on that date.

Evidence reviewed 15 July 2026 Sources in this record 7

Source record

The Ministry of Water and Irrigation appointed the Meridiam-SUEZ consortium in 2024, and SUEZ announced a 30-year concession on 15 January 2025 with construction conditional on financial close. EIB's record lists EUR 427 million across five signatures through 24 July 2025. The December 2025 ESIA defines the current marine system and its environmental controls. EBRD approved up to USD 475 million on 25 February 2026 and AIIB approved USD 250 million of nonsovereign financing on 25 March. The government signed the final technical and legal agreement on 21 April after 16 months of negotiations, but the Ministry of Water and Irrigation said on 7 July that it was still working to complete financial close. The current marine design comprises a shoreline intake lagoon excavated to -4 m MSL, possible sheet-piled cofferdams, revetments and seawall protection, a gravity outfall of about 3,000 mm external diameter, nearshore trenching to about 10 m water depth, a temporary aggregate jetty, towed pipe and diffuser installation, backfill, ballast collars and concrete mattresses. Fish recovery, bubble-curtain, oil-boom, turbidity and brine-dispersion controls apply south of the Aqaba Marine Reserve. The indicative 48-month construction period and 2030 operating target are programme intentions, not evidence of notice to proceed or marine mobilisation.

Phase: financing. Evidence reviewed: 15 July 2026.

Project sources 7