London: Jordan will get aid to build a waste-to-energy power plant that will help municipal authorities in the capital city of Amman cope with rising volumes of trash and employ some of the 1.4 million Syrians who’ve sought refuge in the country.
The €300 million (Dh1.2 billion) project, supported by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), is meant to help Jordan deal with the refugee influx, said Heike Harmgart, who heads the EBRD’s office in Amman, in a telephone interview. A feasibility study will begin this year with construction potentially starting in 2017, she said.
About one in every seven people in Jordan is a Syrian refugee. The population spike has pushed the Jordanian government to invest in renewable energy to alleviate the pressure on the country’s infrastructure systems. The plant in Amman, which would use municipal waste from overflowing local landfills as a feedstock, could allow the city to meet rising energy demands and create jobs.
“Jordan has a 50:50 quota in the construction sector,” Harmgart said, referring to a Jordanian law that would allow half the work force to be drawn from refugee labour pools. “Investment in various infrastructure works in the public and private sector is likely to lead to job opportunities for Syrian refugees.”
