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- Country of residence: Palestine
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Engineer Fadel Kaoush, head of the Palestinian Water Authority, met with the participation of Dr. Ihab Al-Barghouti, Howard Sumka, Director of the USAID Mission, and Gary Cohen, Director of the Water Office at the USAID, to discuss some of the urgent issues and matters that the USAID is supporting and following up with the Water Authority, most notably the critical and dangerous situation of the sewage basins in the Beit Lahia area in the northern Gaza Strip, where The American side is following up on this issue with the Palestinian Water Authority to help provide financial and technical support to establish and equip the third and temporary impregnation basin with the aim of avoiding the region from a new environmental and health disaster after the Umm al-Nasr disaster.
The necessary amounts were allocated to establish the third basin, and a list of the necessary equipment, materials, and supplies was prepared. However, the owners of the plot of land that was chosen to establish this basin on it demanded large financial compensation exceeding 700 thousand dollars in exchange for renting the land for a period of three to six months, which led to the obstruction of completion. This project prompted the Palestinian Water Authority to request the American side to provide the necessary equipment, pumps, and supplies without the process of constructing the basin. The director of the American agency complied with the request and promised to follow up on the matter and provide support and assistance to the Water Authority in this regard in the near future.
During this meeting, the stages of submitting a bid to purchase a batch of pipes worth four million dollars were also reviewed. Engineer Gary, who is responsible for water and sewage projects at the agency, informed him that the bid will be referred within the next few days, and that the arrival of the pipes will take place during the next month of April, noting that the authority The American Water Agency submitted a request for assistance to provide quantities of pipes necessary to improve drinking water services in many Palestinian communities. The American side graciously agreed to this request and work is currently underway to implement it, as stated by American officials.
As for other projects that were frozen by USAID in the field of water and sewage, M. clarified. Fadl Kaoush from Mr. Sumka about the possibility of re-implementing them, noting that these projects.
It includes a sewage treatment plant project for the city of Hebron and its environs, a sewage treatment plant project for the areas of Bethlehem and East Jerusalem, a water project for the villages of the Aqraba group, an institutional development project for the water sector, a program for small emergency water projects, and water projects in the Gaza Strip, the most important of which are the conveyor pipe and the desalination plant.
In this regard, Sumka stated that he does not yet have any instructions or information from the American government regarding these projects, expressing his optimism that there will be progress in the future in this regard if the political situation improves.
On this occasion, Engineer Fadel Kaoush expressed to his guest, Director of the American Agency for Development, Mr. Howard Sumka, his sincere thanks and gratitude for the important development projects and programs funded by the American Agency for Development in the field of water and sewage in the West Bank and Gaza Strip during the past ten years, the value of which exceeded 500 million dollars, wishing for American officials at the agency return to complete the implementation of the projects and programs they promised.
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