Lebanon-Water Supply Augmentation Project

closed

The Water Supply Augmentation Project of Lebanon has an objective to increase the volume of water available to the Greater Beirut and Mount Lebanon area. The project consists of four components. The first component will finance: (i) construction and construction supervision of the Bisri Dam and the associated access road; and (ii) construction and construction supervision of the conveyor pipelines to the existing Joun reservoir and the associated access road; two (2) hydropower plants, generating 0.2 megawatt (MW) and 12 MW respectively; and expansion of the Ouardaniyeh water treatment plant (WTP). Component two will finance priority activities, complementary to construction of Bisri dam, to ensure the long term sustainability of water service delivery across the Greater Beirut Mount Lebanon (GBML). Component 2 will finance: (i) technical assistance to the Ministry of Energy and Water (MOEW), Beirut Mount Lebanon Water Establishment (BMLWE) and Council for Development and Reconstruction (CDR) on the operation and maintenance of dams; (ii) technical assistance to the MOEW and BMLWE on management of Beirut Mount Lebanon (BML) water resources; (iii) technical assistance to Ministry of Energy and Water and Beirut Mount Lebanon Water Establishment in developing and implementing awareness raising campaigns on the economic benefits of switching to the public water network and eventual volumetric metering water supply; (iv) environment and social mitigation measures including the construction of sewerage networks in the upstream catchment villages, as described in the Environmental and Social Management Plan (ESMP). Component three will finance: (i) strengthening capacity of core Project Management Unit (PMU) within Council for Development and Reconstruction to oversee project implementation; (ii) continued engagement of the Dam Safety Panel (DSPE) as per Bank policy requirements and of the independent environment and social Panel of Experts; and (iii) supervision of the ESMP. Finally, component four will finance the costs of compensation of land acquisition of 570 hectares of land, as well as the cost of assistance for livelihood rehabilitation and monitoring of the Resettlement Action Plan (RAP) implementation.