September 3, 2002	Tuesday	Jamadi-us-Saani24,1423

AL QUDS, Sept 2: Preparations are in full swing for a joint Israeli-Jordanian water pipeline to replenish the Dead Sea, an Israeli spokeswoman said on Monday.

The project to allow the passage of water from the Red Sea in the south to the rapidly-evaporating Dead Sea was announced on Sunday at the World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg.

In its first phase, the project is to cost an estimated 800 million dollars, said the spokeswoman for the Israeli Ministry for Regional Cooperation.

The pipeline, two-thirds of which is to run on Jordanian territory, is to increase the Dead Sea’s water levels, which have been sinking one metre per year.

Still debated is whether a desalination plant to provide drinking water will be built along the 300-kilometre pipeline.

Lying 400 metres below sea level, the Dead Sea is a tourist attraction of historical and economic importance for Jordan and Israel.—dpa