Jordan: Water tariffs expected to increase after electricity rise

An imminent rise in electricity prices is expected to affect water tariffs, which will witness a gradual increase, Water Minister Hazem Nasser said on Wednesday, without specifying when.

In the meantime, Nasser said that raising the tariff of irrigation water is an almost certain decision and will be implemented soon.

“The ministry must look into raising drinking water tariffs as prices of electricity will go up…, I’m not saying the decision will be taken during this year or the next; however, it will happen in the future,” Nasser told reporters.

The minister said the rise in water prices is not a result of the launch of the Disi Water Conveyance Project, but a result of the rise in electricity prices, whose cost takes up the majority of the ministry’s budget.

“It is vital for the public to preserve water and rationalise their use, because it is very expensive,” Nasser noted.

The ministry pays to GAMA, the Turkish company implementing the Disi Water Conveyance Project, JD0.90 per cubic metre, the official said at a press conference, noting that as prices of electricity increase, the cost of every cubic metre from the Disi project will increase to JD0.95.

“The government’s subsidy for water from the Disi project will … reach JD95 million annually once prices of electricity increase. Each cubic metre of water that reaches households costs the government JD1.35,” Nasser highlighted.

The decision to raise electricity prices, which is set to take effect after Ramadan, is aimed at addressing the National Electric Power Company’s losses, which currently stand at JD1.2 billion and could reach around JD7.5 billion by 2017, according to government officials.

Meanwhile, tariffs of irrigation water will be increased soon, according to Nasser, who noted that the ministry is conducting its final deliberations with farmers at the Jordan Valley about the imminent raise.

“Funding agencies are refusing to finance projects in the Jordan Valley because they are not even recovering their operation and maintenance costs,” he said.

A recent study jointly carried out by the World Bank and the ministry concluded that raising prices is “inevitable” in light of the sector’s fiscal constraints and ageing infrastructure, and that the current practices and mandates of the Jordan Valley Authority (JVA) are not sustainable, warning that the authority cannot continue to pump water to customers for free.

Nasser said in previous statements that the JVA recovers only 50-60 per cent of the operational and maintenance costs of pumping irrigation water from farmers.

The minister said that infrastructure projects and donor-funded ventures will be disrupted if irrigation water tariffs remain unchanged.