July  16,  2015  

Technical Cooperation to the Kurdistan Region in Iraq Detailed Design Study for Sewerage Construction Project in Kurdistan Region

On June 29, 2015, the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) signed loan

agreements with the Government of the Republic of Iraq to provide Japanese ODA loans of up to a total of 88.188 billion yen for two projects. One of these two projects is “the Sewerage Construction Project in Kurdistan Region (I)”, which aims to establish the first full-scale sewerage system in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq. For this project, JICA has started the Detailed Design Study as its technical cooperation.

In the Kurdistan Region, JICA is also supporting waster supply system such as new water intakes and water treatment facilities in Erbil, Dohuk, Sulaimaniya and Halabja. (1) Background and Necessity

Most cities in Iraq do not have adequate sewage/water treatment plants. Even in cities and communities with treatment systems, many have fallen into disrepair after years of neglect. At the same time, water and sewerage systems, with their intricate network of pumps are constantly strained by regular and frequent power outages. Especially, in the sewage sector, discharged untreated sewage owing to the lack of waste water treatment plants (WWTP) leads to environmental pollution, and leakage of wastewater and insanitary environment cause health problems and it has been ever worsening.

Erbil City currently uses 650 wells as water source. Water quality of about 20% of wells exceeded the drinking water standard according to the record of water quality survey conducted by Erbil Ware Directorate in 2012. Almost half of them were polluted by nitrite nitrogen derived from wastewater. Therefore, it is required to develop a sewerage system as soon as possible. (2) Objective and Scope of the Project

The objective of the project is to improve the capacity of sewage treatment through establishment of sewage system in Erbil (Including Nawroz District and Nishtiman District), thereby improving environmental sanitation condition, and securing water resource and contributing to effective water use.

The ODA loan will be allocated to construction work for the sewage treatment facilities, procuring the equipment and materials for the sewerage pipe network, and consulting services (including bidding assistance and construction supervision). Detailed design work has been undertaken with JICA technical cooperation.

Special Terms for Economic Partnership (STEP) is applied to this loan. The Japanese advanced technology will be utilized, for example, for an energy-saving sewage treatment system, which is easy maintenance and significantly reducing the cost of electricity, and pipe-jacking method that will reduce required time for pipe installation.

     July  16,  2015  

(3) Implementation Schedule Issuing of letters of invitation for consulting services (including construction monitoring)

September 2015

Tender announcement of initial procurement package for bidding on project construction (Release date)

November 2016

Completion of project (with completion of the warrantee period) December 2023

(4) Terms and Amount of Loan Total Amount 34,417 million JPY Annual interest rate for Project 0.1 % Annual interest rate for Consulting services 0.01 % Repayment period 40 years Grace period 10 years Procurement Japan tied

(5) Executing Agency of the Project

General Directorate of Water and Sewerage, Ministry of Municipality and Tourism, Kurdistan Regional Government.

(6) Expected benefits to the citizens of Erbil

This project is designed as phase 1 project of Erbil Sewerage Project covering entire Erbil city. Entire project is designed to cover 2.4 million people, which is expected population of the city in 2035, and its phase 1 covers 1/4 of it, 600 thousand populations. Thus, WWTP in the project covers 210,000 m3/day which provides enough wastewater treatment access for the population.

(7) Actual work of the consulting team of the Detailed Design Study

JICA dispatched eight Japanese consultants to Erbil city, Kurdistan Region, as the first mission in order to prepare the detailed design and tender documents for this project. The consulting team is staying there from 4th July to 16th July, and visiting to Erbil four more times during the study.

The consulting team is checking the project site for WWTP with staff of Erbil sewerage directorate.

Discharged water in the city is causing environmental pollution. A sewage system with WWTP is urgently required.