February 28, 2010

Japan provides two grants to Jordan for addressing climate change by adapting and mitigating climate change as well as improving access to clean energy

Photo courtesy of Petra News Agency

Photo courtesy of Ministry of Planning

            The Government of Japan has decided to extend to the Government of Jordan two grants totally up to One billion and Seven hundred and Seventy Two million Japanese Yen (\1,772,000,000), approximately Twenty million US dollars (USD20,000,000) or Fourteen million Jordan Dinar (JD14,000,000) at the current exchange rate, under “Japan’s Program Grant Aid for Environment and Climate Change“ which was introduced as a new grant aid scheme as part of its assistance for measures to climate change.

            The Exchange of Notes of the Programmes was signed between His Excellency Dr. Jafar Hassan, Minister of Planning and International Cooperation and His Excellency Mr. Tetsuo Shioguchi, Ambassador of Japan in Amman on February 28. At the same time, the Minister and Mr. Shigeru Okamoto, Chief Representative of the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), Japanese governmental agency signed the Grant Aid Agreement for implementing one of the Programmes. His Excellency Eng. Hazem Malhas Minister of Environment also attended the ceremony.

One of the Programmes is for Energy Conservation through Upgrading Water Supply Network in Jordan. This Programme aims at improvement in the efficiency of water transmission and reduction in consumption of electric energy through replacement of major pumping facilities for water transmission and procurement of water transmission pipes and valves at Zarqa Governorate. Synergy with past grant-aid project is also expected from this assistance. Thus, this Program will contribute not only to reduction in CO2 emission through reduction in energy consumption, but also to stabilization of water supply in Zarqa District.

            Within this context, it is worth mentioning that JICA conducted a master plan study on “Improvement of the Water Supply System for Zarqa District” in 1994-1996. Based on the recommendation of this study, since 2002, Japan has been implementing the grant aid project for “Improvement of Water Supply for Zarqa District” in two phases with a total amount of approximately Forty Five million US dollars (USD45,000,000) or Thirty Two million Jordan Dinar (JD32,000,000). The project aims to support the reconstruction of the water supply system in Zarqa district by installation of water district distribution zones through renovating the existing pipes, renewing pump stations, and thus enhancing the capacity of reservoirs.

The other Programme aims at greenhouse gas emissions reduction by installing photovoltaic generating system in El Hassan Science City and Dead Sea Panorama Complex, with a view to promoting the efforts by the Government of Jordan to address climate change. The mission of El Hassan Science City is to create a sustainable innovation ecosystem that can serve as a platform for both public and private sector innovation, playing the role of a catalyst for a knowledge-based economy in Jordan under the slogan “for Continuity, Innovation and Change”. Dead Sea Panorama Complex is a cultural complex which includes museum, restaurant, conference hall and panoramic terrace. The Complex was established in cooperation with Japan’s support through a soft loan in 2006 and is being managed by the Royal Society for Conservation of Nature. The Programme will contribute much to both the concepts of the City and the Complex.

          H.E. Dr. Yukio Hatoyama, Prime Minister of Japan announced Japan's aim to reduce its emissions by 25% by 2020 if compared to the 1990 level, despite concerns of the industry. In addition to that, taking the occasion of the COP 15 of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change in December in 2009, Japan also announced that it would provide assistance to developing countries in the amount of about Fifteen billion US dollars (USD15,000,000,000) in total up to 2012, including Eleven billion US dollars (USD11,000,000,000) in public financing. These are premised upon the establishment of a fair and effective international framework by all major economies and agreement on their ambitious targets.

The Government of Japan, in cooperation with JICA has provided Jordan with a total amount of Three billion US dollars (USD3, 000,000,000), Two Billion Jordan Dinar (JD 2,000,000,000) as official development assistance (ODA) in a lot of fields such as water, environment, health, education, vocational training and regional cooperation, since the Japanese Embassy in Jordan was established in 1974.

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