The Disi project (yet again)

I attended a talk by Abdulkarim Gharaibeh a while back. In it, he reminisced about a meeting he had with the prime minister in 1985. At the time, the prime minister told Gharaibeh and other attendees that the government had two top priorities: exploiting the oil shale in Jordan and pumping water from the Disi aquifer to Amman. At this point, the audience roared with laughter, as 22 years later, the government is still saying the same things.

Last year, the government offered a tender to do the project. Back then, I said that the government was buying time. Sure enough, it is time to announce who won the contract. The government is dallying, and the PM now is suggesting that it will be too expensive. Fahd Khitan (Al Arab Al Yawm) suggests that people with vested interests (powerful people) are fighting against implementation of the project. While this may be a factor, most likely is that the project is too expensive. Can’t they just say it?

I know. They should offer another tender. Surely that government would have changed by the time a new decision has to be made.