Lebanon’s Council for Development and Reconstruction (CDR) has invited consultants to submit proposals for a project to develop a hydropower plant and associated infrastructure.

The project will involve developing a hydropower plant at Joun and a 3.7 kilometre transmission pipeline from the dam to the plant. The plant will have a capacity of about 12MW with a planned flow of six cubic metres a second.

The project will also involve the expansion of the Ourdaniye water treatment plant (WTP), which will contain a wastewater treatment element to ensure that pollutants are not discharged into the Bisri river - the source for the Joun hydropower plant.

Firms have been invited to submit proposals by 6 August for the consultancy contract.

Lebanon’s government has applied for a loan from the Islamic Development Bank (IDB) to complement a financing package it has agreed with the World Bank.