On Tuesday 20 March, European Commissioner for Neighbourhood Policy Johannes Hahn announced an additional contribution of €7.1 million for the construction of a desalination plant in Gaza – the biggest infrastructure project ever launched in the strip.
"The EU has added €7.1 million, for management costs, to its initial promise of €70 million", Hahn said, at the end of a donors' conference co-chaired in Brussels by the EU and Palestinian Authority. Overall, the international community has pledged €456 million (€360 million of which was pledged previously). This comes from 42 countries, including 20 EU member states and Israel, and 8 institutions. Hahn said further announcements could be made in the coming weeks. Given that the pledges account for 80% of the €562.3 million for the project, it is enough for the European Investment Bank to launch a call for tenders procedure on 15 April.
The desalination plant, for which the construction plans date back to 2012, will produce a minimum of 55 million cubic metres (and a maximum of 110 million cubic metres) of drinking water per year for the 2 million inhabitants of the Gaza Strip. Gazans depend almost exclusively on the coastal aquifer as their source of drinking water (for a capacity of 55 to 60 million cubic metres per year) although demand is for 180 million. Only 3% of the water pumped responds to the drinking water quality standards set by the World Health Organisation.
High Representative of the EU for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Federica Mogherini for her part said that the project could mean "significant progress with a positive impact in the short term, not only on the economy of Gaza but especially on the daily life of Palestinians". She nevertheless stated at a press conference ahead of the meeting of the group of international donors for Palestine, the ad hoc liaison committee, which was organised alongside the donors' conference, that "the economic outlook would probably remain gloomy without clear progress towards the reunification of the West Bank and Gaza". "We expect all the Palestinian factions to isolate the troublemakers and continue on the path of reconciliation with courage and determination", she added. (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)