Palestine Economy Portal

The World Bank announced today, Thursday, a new grant of $ 10 million to finance the operation and maintenance of a wastewater treatment plant, in the northern Gaza Strip, for a period of four years, and to create the conditions necessary to provide sustainable wastewater treatment services.

In line with previous partnership projects in this sector, the new wastewater treatment sustainability project will receive an additional $ 3.7 million grant from member partners of the Multi-Donor Trust Fund for the Palestinian Partnership for Infrastructure Development managed by the World Bank.

"The Gaza Strip has been suffering from environmental catastrophe for years because of sewage pollution affecting thousands of Palestinians," Kanthan Shankar said in a statement, the World Bank's director and representative in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

The new project builds on the expanded efforts of the World Bank and donor partners to complete the long-awaited process to construct a North Gaza wastewater treatment plant. Now, the new project is focusing on the operation and maintenance of the treatment plant, while gradually working to build the institutional capacity for sustainable self-management.”

The new project is a continuation of the World Bank's activities in the sanitation sector, which aim to reduce risks to public health and environmental safety in the Gaza Strip.

The emergency project for the construction of a wastewater treatment plant in northern Gaza is a solution to the problem of untreated wastewater that is collected by four municipalities and disposed of in the north of Beit Lahia, and over time, a lake of untreated wastewater has formed causing severe pollution of the groundwater reservoirs on Coast, the main source of drinking water.

"The amount of wastewater has increased over the years, leading to floods, deaths, injuries and property damage to residents in the surrounding areas. The treatment plant set up under the World Bank project provides an effective solution to the problem of liquid waste from wastewater, and prevents the deterioration of underground reservoirs, And contribute to reducing flood risk. "

He added: The financial collapse of the Palestinian economy in 2018 jeopardized the already weak financial capabilities of the Palestinian Water Authority and hampered the financing of wastewater treatment facilities. This led to the suspension of operations and the return to the conditions that prevailed before the construction of the treatment plant.

The new project aims to maintain previous results and vital services for wastewater treatment, and it works in two parallel tracks, where it will finance operation and maintenance work for a period of four years to support the continuation of wastewater treatment services in northern Gaza, and to rehabilitate some equipment and civil works necessary to build the capacity of treatment facilities to Withstand shocks.

The project also aims to strengthen the sector's institutions by providing technical assistance to build capacities for the sustainability of wastewater services. This will allow the gradual transfer of responsibilities for providing services to the Coastal Municipalities Water Utility, to play the role of the water utility in the sector, and then to bring together the 25 municipal service providers in the Gaza Strip.

"The operation of the treatment plant will benefit approximately an estimated 400,000 residents, and it will provide opportunities to use treated water in the northern Gaza region. But strengthening the levels of governance and technical capabilities of selected institutions to manage wastewater facilities," said Adnan Ghosheh, the World Bank's first expert on water and sanitation. 

The multi-donor trust fund for the Palestinian Partnership for Infrastructure Development includes: Denmark, Netherlands, Norway, France, Finland, Sweden, Croatia, Portugal, UK and Australia.