The US Agency for International Development (USAID) is financing the design, construction and operation of the water treatment and desalination plant, which will have a capacity of 53 million cubic metres a year. The successful contractor will also be responsible for construction of six pumping stations and a 41-kilometre pipeline to transfer treated water from the Dead Sea to Amman. Work on the project is expected to begin in October 2001 and to be completed by July 2004.