Officially opening the seawater desalination plant south of Gaza and beginning to pump water, funded with €10 million from the European Union through UNICEF, serving 75,000 residents.
Official Opening of the Seawater Desalination Plant South of the Strip and the Official Start of Pumping Water to Targeted Areas
The opening ceremony of the seawater desalination plant south of the Gaza Strip - Phase One - and the official start of pumping water took place today, Thursday, at the plant's site, in the presence of His Excellency Minister of Labor Dr. Mamoun Abu Shahla, Eng. Mazen Ghanem, Chairman of the Palestinian Water Authority, Dr. Majed Awni Abu Ramadan, Chairman of CMWU's Board of Directors, and Eng. Monther Shoblaq, the Utility's Director-General. The opening was also attended by Ms. June Kunugi, UNICEF's Special Representative, Mr. Robert Piper, the UN Humanitarian Coordinator, and Mr. Michael Koehler, Director of the Southern Neighbourhood at the European Commission's Directorate-General.
In the beginning of her speech, Ms. June Kunugi expressed her sincere thanks to the European Union for funding the first phase of the desalination plant, valued at €10 million, which will produce 6,000 cubic meters of desalinated water daily, benefiting about 75,000 residents of the cities of Rafah and Khan Younis, affirming the availability of funding for the second phase, and expressed her thanks to UNICEF's partners in implementing this important project, especially the Water Authority and CMWU, and to everyone who contributed to implementing this project, which embodies the meanings of hope and partnership for a better future for the children of Palestine.
For his part, Mr. Robert Piper, the UN Humanitarian Coordinator, expressed their commitment to implementing this project and placing the Gaza Strip within the plans that will be worked on to improve conditions there, especially regarding water and sanitation services, as the Strip's residents still suffer from a shortage of those services, and praised the partnership with the Palestinian Water Authority and CMWU in implementing projects that would make progress on this front.
In turn, Dr. Majed Abu Ramadan praised the efforts of all the parties overseeing the implementation of the desalination plant project, foremost among them the European Union and UNICEF, who always work to protect the future of Palestine's children, and also praised the great efforts of the Water Authority and CMWU in bringing this project to light.
Abu Ramadan affirmed that the first phase of the desalination plant serves as a test of the extent of our success on the path to completing the subsequent phases to finish building the central desalination plant.
Mr. Michael Koehler of the European Commission pointed to the scale of support provided by the European Union for water sector projects, most importantly the desalination plant to produce water fit for drinking, and noted that the siege imposed on the Gaza Strip negatively affects all aspects of life.
Eng. Mazen Ghanem, Chairman of the Palestinian Water Authority, thanked the Water Authority's partners in developing and caring for the water sector in Palestine in general and in the Gaza Strip, foremost among them the European Union, the World Bank, the German Development Bank, and many friends and partners in the international community.
In his speech, Ghanem announced their receipt of a commitment letter to fund the construction of the central desalination plant on the land adjacent to the site of the plant's first phase, affirming that this project is considered a fundamental building block of the independent Palestinian state, and that everyone must exert every effort to overcome the difficulties and obstacles facing the implementation of such projects to avert a water catastrophe occurring in the Gaza Strip.
Ghanem stressed the necessity of establishing new mechanisms to facilitate the entry of materials and equipment for implementing projects that would fulfill the wishes of Palestine's children to obtain basic services such as access to water fit for drinking, directing thanks to all funders and those overseeing the projects supporting the Palestinian Water Authority's plan to develop the water sector.
