The European Union and Palestinian Authority convene Investment Platform and announce EUR 42 million of investments for the Northeast Ramallah Wastewater Treatment Plant

The EC Director General for the Neighbourhood and Enlargement Negotiations, Mr Gert Jan Koopman the Vice President of the European Investment Bank Gelsomina Vigliotti, with the  Palestinian Prime Minister, Dr Mohammad Mustafa launched today the 6^th meeting of the European Union – Palestine Investment Platform. On the margins of the meeting, the EU, EIB, and the Palestinian authority signed a EUR 42 million agreement to construct the northeast Ramallah wastewater treatment plant.

The meeting of the European Union – Palestine Investment Platform was held at the Palestinian Prime Minister office and attended by representatives of Palestinian and European public institutions. The participants exchanged views to identify, prioritise, coordinate and promote investment opportunities by the various European instruments. 

The European Union – Palestine Investment Platform (Platform) is a collaborative initiative between the EU and Palestine. It was established with the aim of fostering policy dialogue and investment. It serves as a platform to identify, prioritise, coordinate and promote investment opportunities offered by the EU External Investment Plan, together with its European Fund for Sustainable Development. A key objective of the Platform is to better attract investments into Palestine by mobilising additional public, institutional and private financing, contributing to Palestine’s policy and reform priorities.

On this occasion, the Palestinian Water Authority and the EU, together with the European Investment Bank (EIB), signed a EUR 42.2 million agreement of which around EUR 22.3 million are EU grant and EUR 19.9 million are a 30-year loan by the EIB. This project is a significant investment for the benefit of Northeast Ramallah citizens through improving sanitation and environmental protection in Palestine. The project includes the construction of a large scale wastewater treatment and a sewage network with a total length of more than 180 kilometres to increase direct sewage connections to 60,000 people living in 14 villages north-east of Ramallah. The whole project will be managed by the Palestinian Water Authority.

This initiative is a key component of the Team Europe Initiative for Water Resources Management, Wastewater, and Reuse in Palestine, which was launched in June 2023. It underscores the EU and its Member States' commitment to leading efforts in the water sector, climate action, and biodiversity preservation in Palestine. The new water and sanitation scheme will address critical wastewater challenges, enhance public health, and protect the natural environment.

Since 2020, the European Union, its Member states and European Financial Institutions, in cooperation with their Palestinian counterparts, have directly contributed more than 1.1 billion euros in loans and innovative instruments to mobilise finance for investment into wide reaching sectors of the Palestinian economy in an effective and sustainable manner.

Background:

European Union – Palestine Investment Platform

The European Union – Palestine Investment Platform (Platform), a collaborative initiative between the EU and Palestine, was established with the aim of fostering policy dialogue and investment. It serves as a platform to identify, prioritise, coordinate and promote investment opportunities offered by the EU External Investment Plan, together with its European Fund for Sustainable Development (EFSD) and European Fund for Sustainable Development + (EFSD +). A key objective of the Platform is to better attract investments into Palestine by mobilising additional public, institutional and private financing, contributing to Palestine’s policy and reform priorities.

Since launching the Platform in December 2020, five high-level meetings took place under the auspices of the Palestinian Prime Minister and the European Union Representative.

Northeast Ramallah Project

The lack of safely managed sanitation services is a major challenge in Palestine. Currently less than 20% of the population in the project area is connected to a sewage collection system. In addition, even where sewage is collected, no treatment is applied, with wastewater being discharged to valleys or open channels, hence contaminating both surface/ground water as well as soil. As such this project targets the development of the wastewater collection and treatment system in the Northeast Ramallah in order to improve the access to safely managed sanitation services, contribute to environmental protection, depollution and wastewater reuse for 14 communities with a population of around 60,000 people.

The project includes the following main components: (i) the construction of a wastewater collection system including trunk sewer lines and local networks (ii) a new regional wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) in line with EU standards and (iii) the construction of reuse facilities for the utilisation of the treated effluent wastewater for agricultural and potentially other purposes.. The project will be split into two consequent phases, with Phase 1 covering the construction of the WWTP and related wastewater collection system (EUR 42 Million) and Phase 2 covering the reuse components (EUR 15 Million) and Technical Assistance/studies for both phases including land acquisition (EUR 3.75 Million). The European Investment Bank stands ready to support Phase 2 of the project, subject to further studies.