Jordan has signed a KD30m ($104m) loan agreement with the Arab Fund for Economic & Social Development for the construction of the fourth phase of the Samra power plant, 35 kilometres north of Amman.

The project will increase capacity of the plant from 600MW to 900MW, making it the country’s largest power generation facility.

South Korea’s Hanwha Engineering & Construction is the contractor on the scheme. The company will install two gas turbines with capacity of 142.9MW each at the plant.

Construction on the project will be completed by 2011. The local Samra Electric Power Generating Company is the client.

A 300MW combined cycle plant is already operating at the site. It comprises two 100MW gas turbines and a 100MW steam turbine.Two more gas turbines are being converted to combined cycle.