The ongoing Tunisia Sfax desalination plant project will receive more than US$295 million in loans from the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), the Japanese government, the government agency that provides the most official development assistance to developing countries.

The loan has a repayment period of 25 years and a grace period of 7 years. It is bound by the financing agreement recently signed by the Japanese Ambassador to Tunisia, Shimizu Shinsuke, and the Minister of Agriculture, Water Resources, Dr. Akissa Bahri and Fisheries in Tunisia.

Also present at the signing ceremony were Mosbah Helali, President and CEO of Japan National Water Resources Development and Distribution Corporation (Sonede), and Shinohara Shunei, Permanent Representative of JICA to North African Countries.

Project Overview

The Sfax desalination plant project is part of the second phase of the Tunisian industrial zone restoration plan. It aims to collect and treat the wastewater discharged from the plant to prevent it from being discharged into the wetlands and the Mediterranean coast. The project needs to be about a distance from the city of Sfax. Construction of a desalination plant in the Gargour area of 20 kilometers. The plant will have the capacity to process 100,000 cubic meters of water per day, which will be stored in reservoirs.

It also includes the construction of a pumping station and the laying of pipelines to provide drinking water for the city of Sfax. Sonede plans to increase the plant's production capacity by 200,000 cubic meters from the planned 100,000 cubic meters per day in the future.Editor/GongYan