AFTER THE decision two years ago to postpone the ‘Manavgat Peace Water’ project, Turkey and Israel have now started working on a new ‘four-leg’ pipeline to transport crude oil, natural gas, water, and electricity. Since it will contribute to regional stability and increase the strategic depth of Turkey, Ankara is “optimistic” about the project, which holds great importance, as it is believed it will strengthen Ankara-Tel Aviv relations. Feasibility studies will start shortly, although it will take at least a decade to fully implement the project, which is now in the “conceptual debate phase”.
The original project was based on an agreement between Turkey and Israel for Turkey to sell water from its Manavgat River to Israel. Under the agreement, signed on 4 March, 2004, 50m cum/yr of water would be transported over a 20-year period. Sources said recently that Turkey and Israel made the decision to postpone this project because of the rising shipping costs of the water in special tankers, and because the Manavgat water-treatment facility has been included in the country’s privatization portfolio. However, the parties have agreed to assess alternative projects that enable water shipping to Palestine and Jordan as well as Israel in the future.
Turkey established the water-treatment facility on the Manavgat River in 1997 in order to meet the needs of countries in the Mediterranean basin and the Middle East that have water shortage. The facility has a capacity to treat 180m cum/y