Jordan to supply Jericho with power
Jordan Times
July 8, 2007
By Mohammad Ghazal
AMMAN - Jordan will begin supplying the West Bank city of Jericho with all electricity needs at preferential prices before the end of this year, an official said on Saturday.
"Jericho will be separated soon from the Israeli electricity network
and linked to the Jordanian power grid," National Electric Power
Company Director General Ahmad Hiasat told The Jordan Times.
"Jordan will provide the city with all its power needs by the end of the
year."
Hiasat said electricity will be sold to Jericho at preferential
prices on a Palestinian Authority request during a recent meeting
between King Abdullah and President Mahmoud Abbas.
"Jericho is only around seven kilometres away from the Kingdom's
power plants in the Jordan Valley," he added, saying possible plans
to supply other Palestinian cities with electricity "depends on the
political situation".
"The Palestinians said they did not want to be dependent on the
Israeli power supplies," he said. "Jericho will stop receiving
electricity from Israel once it gets power from Jordan."
Meanwhile, Hiasat told the Jordan News Agency, Petra, that the
Kingdom has been providing electricity to Syria for four months at an
average of 2,385 megawatts per hour.
"Jordan supplies to Syria almost every night, when electricity loads
in the Kingdom are low," Hiasat said.
He said Jordan imports power from Egypt at times of peak demand.
"Some of Jordan's power plants run on diesel, which is costly,
therefore, it's cheaper to import power from Egypt," Hiasat said.