Disi Water Company (Diwaco) has awarded a consultancy contract on its planned $1bn Disi canal project to the UK’s Halcrow.

The contract is worth $8.3m and Halcrow will act as the owner’s engineer on the scheme.

The project will transport water from the Disi-Mudawarra aquifer to Amman through a 325-kilometre-long pipeline. When the scheme is completed in 2013, it will provide 30 per cent of the capital’s water requirements.

The project includes 55 wells, 120km of collection pipes, 325km of conveyance pipes, two pumping stations, four tanks and one reservoir.

Jordan is one of the ten most water-scarce countries in the world.

Diwaco is wholly owned by Turkey’s Gama Enerji, the developer on the Disi project. Diwaco will own and operate the project for 25 years before it is transferred to the Jordanian government.