Piece of land allocated to build the UfM regional desalination plant in Gaza

RAMALLAH, (with WAFA agency) – Upon the directives of the President of the Palestinian Authority Mahmoud Abbas, the Land Authority informed the Palestinian Water Authority (PWA) of allocating 30 dunums (1 Dunum=1000 Square Meters) of Al Mawasi land in Khan Yunis, a city south of Gaza, to build the desalination facility with a capacity of 100 million cubic meters, promoted by the Palestinian Authority with the support of the Union for the Mediterranean .
President Abbas formed a higher committee, whose mission is to carry out an Arab regional tour, to provide the necessary funding to build the desalination plant, which mounts up to $ 450 million.
On 22 June 2011, the Union for the Mediterranean “labeled” its very first project which consists of the construction of a 100 million cubic meters desalination facility and distribution system in the Gaza strip that would help to address the major water deficit for a population of 1.6 million. The “labeling” of this large-scale project, submitted by the Secretariat’s Environment & Water Division in collaboration with the Palestinian Water Authority, by the representatives of the 43 UfM countries was partly based on a unanimous recommendation from the UfM’s Water Expert Group. This humanitarian project will contribute to job creation and future economic and sustainable development in that highly populated region of the Mediterranean. The Project will also contribute to the political stability of the region through the removal of the water scarcity issue from the web of the multiple and complex issues facing the Gaza Strip.