Announcement of the Inauguration of Jordan’s Potash Project on March 18, 1982

. . H)R, IMMEDIATE RELEASE eWorldBank 1818 H Street, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20433, U.S.A.• Telephone: (202) 477-1234 BANK NEWS RELEASE Contact: Melhem Salman March 18, 1982 (202) 477-5328 JORDAN INAUGURATION OF POTASH PROJECT A $430 million Potash Industry was inaugurated today on the Dead Sea shores of Jordan on March 18, 1982. The World Bank has assisted the financing of this project with a $35 million loan in 1978. The project is designed to produce 1.2 million tons per year of potash from Dead Sea brine through solar evaporation. It co~sists of a solar evaporation and brine transfer system; a carnallite harvesting system; a refinery to produce fertilizer grade potash; utility facilities consisting of power, water supply, and sewerage systems; and a town for workers. Port facilities are provided at Aqaba, 200 kilometers away, to handle potash exports • • At full capacity in 1985, the foreign exchange earnings from ex- ports (almost the entire production will be exported) will amount to about $150 million a year. Other benefits from the project wili include tbe creation of 700 permanent jobs and the establishment of a new indus- trial area with the possibility of growth in a remote area of the country. The project was co-financed by the Kuwait Fund for Economic Development, the Libyan Arab Foreign Bank, the U.S. Agency for International Development, the Iraqi Fund for External Development, the Arab Fund for Economic and Social Development, the OPEC Special Fund, the Arab Mining Company, the Islamic Development Bank, Arab states, and private shareholders, with loans and equity. NOTE: Money figures are expressed in U.S. dollar equivalents • •