Khirbet Al Samra Wastewater Treatment Plant

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In July of 2002, the Samra Wastewater Treatment Plant Company (SPC) won a 25 year build-operate-transfer (BOT) contract with the Ministry of Water and Irrigation (MWI) to increase the capacity of the then 15-year-old Khirbet Al-Samra plant from 68,000 cubic meters per day (cm/d) to 268,000 cm/d, equivalent to 80% of Jordan’s wastewater. The plant was to serve the then 2.5 million inhabitants of Amman and its surrounding area. SPC’s shareholders were Morganti, the US affiliate of Greece-based Consolidated Contractors International Company (CCC) (50%), Ondeo Degremont, the U.S.-based subsidiary of France’s Suez Environnement (30%), and Suez Environnement itself (20%). SPC had expected the plant to generate annual revenues of US$15 million throughout the period of concession. On December 10, 2003, construction work (estimated to last 3 years) began on the US$169.5 million wastewater treatment plant in Zarqa following the signing of 18 contract agreements between the government, the project company and the project financers. SPC signed a 15-year commercial loan agreement with a syndicate of banks led by the Arab Bank. The consortium was lending US$60 million to SPC over 10 years, extendable for a further five years. A facility to borrow a further US$8 million to cover government variations was also agreed to. Eight other banks and the Social Security Corporation were in the loan syndicate. They were: Housing Bank for Trade & Finance, Jordan Kuwait Bank, Arab Banking Corporation (Jordan), HSBC, Export & Finance Bank, Industrial Development Bank, Jordan Bank for Investment & Finance and the Arab Investment Bank. Ticket sizes ranged from US$1 million-US$11 million. Interest on the loan was to be fixed at 7.6% during the construction phase. Once the project entered the operational phase the loan was to switch to a variable rate based on six-month government treasury bills. The project was also being funded by a US$78 million grant from the US Agency for International Development (USAID), US$17.5 million in equity from the SPC companies and a US$14 million grant from the government to reduce the cost per cubic meter to a level affordable to the average household. The Swedish International Development Agency also contributed to Khirbet Al Samra with US$5 million in technical assistance.