Project of dragging water from Awali to Beirut(dam of Bisri)
a-
Historical brief :
During 2010, the project of dragging water from Awali to Beirut was urgently treated by Minister of Power and water resources, Engineer Gebran Bassil. In order to follow closely the development of the basis relating to the launching of the project, several meetings were held in the presence of HE and senior consultants in the ministry and representatives of the donors of a part of the financing i.e. the World Bank and the Council for Development and Reconstruction and the Ministry of Finance and the Water Authority of Beirut and Mount Lebanon. The first part of the project, i.e. the project of dragging the water from Awali, started to be implemented during 2010, since the parties put their initials on the draft agreement on 30 / 9 / 2010 and then the World Bank gave the approval to grant the loan on 16 / 12 / 2010, and by the Cabinet by virtue of the resolution No. 2 of 11 / 10 / 2011. The parties signed the final agreement on 8 / 2 / 2012 in the building of the Ministry of Power and water resources and the parliament passed the law No. 234/2012, published in the Official Gazette and ratified by the President of the Republic on 22 / 10 / 2012.
It was agreed to distribute the funding for this project which cost is estimated at about 370 million U.S. dollars as follows:
1-
loan from the World Bank to the Lebanese state equivalent to 200 million dollars
2-
Contribution from the Water Authority of Beirut and Mount Lebanon equivalent to 140 million dollars
3-
Contribution of the Lebanese state for the cost of lands expropriation equivalent to 30 million dollars
Total amount of 370 million U.S. dollars
Synopsis about the project and the time schedule of studies phases and execution:
b-
The objective of the project
Securing additional quantities of drinking water to areas of Greater Beirut from Awali River and raising the level of the service of distribution of drinking water in these areas.
c-
parts of the project
This project consists of two parts:
The first part (with the CDR): the infrastructure necessary to draw raw water at a rate of 250,000 cubic meters per day (in the first phase) and includes:
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The excavation of a tunnel of 4.2 kilometers between Jun and Wardaniyeh securing a flow at a rate of 9 m3 / s in the second phase (Phase II starting after the completion of the establishment of the dam of Bisri and putting it in service).
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The excavation of a tunnel of 19.8 kilometers between Wardaniyeh and Khaldeh securing a flow at a rate of 9 m3 / s.
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An extension of two pipelines of 1400 mm diameter and a length of 10.8 kilometers between Khaldeh and Hadath.
The first part (the Authority): the infrastructure necessary for the treatment of raw water at a rate of 250,000 cubic meters per day (in the first phase) and includes:
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The creation of a treatment plant in Wardaniyeh securing a flow at a rate of 9 m3 / s in the second phase (Phase II starting after the completion of the establishment of the dam of Bisri and putting it in service).
The second part includes: - the establishment of 24 tanks in different parts of the area covered by this project.
- The extension of the distribution network at a length of 450 km.
- The installation of 200,000 house meters.
- The installation of 30 meters on tanks.
d-
Follow up of the project by the Board of Directors
During the past year, the Board of Directors of the Authority followed up the work program of the project through the decisions taken of which the most important were :
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Resolution No. 2 of January 10th, 2013: Amendment of the Decree 2011 / 5988 relating to the expropriation of tanks
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Resolution No. 6 of February 7th, 2013: opening two accounts in the name of the Authority, one for the payments of the Authority and the other for the payments of the World Bank
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Resolution No. 27 on July 18th, 2013: launching the tender for the area C
e-
the work program
Regarding the progress of the work program, the phases of the project can be summarized as follows:
1-
the tunnel and traction pipelines
The pre-qualification process for contractors was carried out and the bid was launched on September 24th, 2013 and the bids will be opened on the first of April 2014, to select the consultant who shall supervise the implementation during the first half of 2014.
2-
Drinking water treatment plant in Wardaniyeh
Regarding consultancy services:
The TOR and the RFP were prepared and it is expected to start the works after six months from the beginning of the implementation of the first phase.
For the implementation of the works:
The pre-qualification of works contractors shall be launched in the first half of 2014, and the implementation is expected to start six months after the beginning of the implementation of the first phase
3-
Distribution Networks
The study of distribution networks in the areas of the project was contracted in the month of March 2012 and the consultant ended the contracting documents for the four zones A, B, C and D
The works for the area C shall be contracted in January 2014, and the tender of the regions A and B shall be called and the offers will be opened in April 10th, 2014 for the area A and May 6th, 2014 for the region B. the tender for the region D will be called in the first half of 2014.