The canal will take 25 years to build, cost $1 billion, and include a seawater desalination plant.
Eleven international companies will participate in a tender to examine the possibility of digging a canal from the Red Sea to the Dead Sea, Jordan's Ministry of Water and Irrigation has announced.
The two-year study will examine the environmental and social consequences of bringing seawater from the Red Sea to the Dead Sea through a 300-kilometer canal through the desert. Construction of the canal is expected to take 25 years and cost $1 billion, and the project will include a seawater desalination plant that will provide water for drinking and agriculture for the region.
The Dead Sea has been shrinking rapidly in recent decades as water from the Jordan River has been diverted for agricultural and other uses, as well as from evaporation pools used to precipitate various minerals from the water.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes.co.il - on June 27, 2007
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