More on the Karamah dam discussion

Yesterday, Minister of Water and Irrigation Zafer Alem gave his point of view with regard to the Karamah dam, which the parliament is now examining. He was deeply involved in the decision, so it is understandable that he would defend the project.

The main defense Alem offered was that the project was studied by a British consulting firm, Sir Alexander Gibb and associates. He says that the Gibb report suggested that washing out the dam a few times will remove all the salt in the area. He said that “the strategy to clean out the salt could not be implemented because of drought from 1997 to 2006 prevented it”. Of course, I have not noticed this 9 year drought that he is talking about, unless of course you are comparing Jordan to Scotland. The bottom line was that water managers had more pressing needs to meet than to waste 50 million cubic meters of water on a salty useless dam. Anybody who understands the water situation in Jordan would have foreseen that.

It is interesting that invoking the name of a British firm is believed to be enough to silence critics. It is as if the minister is saying “Since a tall, blond, blue eyed consultant said it was OK, then we are not to be blamed”. I mean, who are you going to believe, a local expert or a foreigner? This logic holds even after the project is a proven failure.

It is interesting to note that Gibb and associates were involved in another multi million Dinar disaster in Jordan. They designed a dike system for the Arab Potash company which subsequently collapsed (scroll to page 7). Oops. It seems that despite the fancy name, Sir Alexander Gibb and associates sends over people like this fellow, who, at the tender age of 17, and five years before receiving his engineering degree, was a Junior Engineer for Gibb, in charge of “Site investigation interpretive reporting and analysis of embankment settlement and stability (for Arab Potash Project, Jordan)”.

Now, there are thousands of qualified people in Jordan who are capable of doing engineering and geological studies. Why not ask them for their advice? They would certainly cost less than our foreign blue eyed friends, and they understand the local environment. The answer is that our decision makers still think that “Il frinji brinji” (what is foreign is good). At least, you might intimidate your critics with a fancy consultants’ name when things go bad.

Anyway, a friend of mine suggests a new use for the dam. He says that we can take the cucumbers from the Jordan Valley, and throw them into the dam to make a giant pickle factory. Too bad Alem didn’t think of that.