Ramallah: The Italian Government responded to the Water Authority's request by converting the loan into a grant supporting the construction of the Central Desalination Plant program in the Gaza Strip worth 8 million euros, which  will be allocated to the works associated with the central desalination plant, thus Italy joins the group of countries supporting the project. This came during a meeting of the head of the Water Authority, Eng. Mazen Ghunaim, in his office today, with the Consul General of Italy East Jerusalem, Fabio Sokolowicz.

At the beginning of the meeting, Eng. Ghunaim praised the Italian Government's efforts to support the Palestinian water sector through the projects it has implemented not only in the water sector but in different sectors, to culminate today in the support of this strategic project to avoid the disaster as we are on the threshold of 2020, where this is the largest Italian support for Palestinian projects.

Eng.Ghunaim also explained that the Water Authority succeeded through successive efforts to secure about 95% of the value of the program, and still communicating and discussing with partners and supporters to provide support. He also briefed the Italian consul on the practical steps being taken by the Water Authority to implement the Central Desalination Plant, including the tender for the southern carrier line, and the implementation of the expansion of additional water networks in the south and center.

For his part, Mr. Sokolowicz expressed his appreciation for the great efforts made by the Water Authority to develop this humanitarian sector, that they will discuss aspects and mechanisms that can be worked out to open prospects for future cooperation between the two countries.