October 8, 2009
Arrabeh, Northern West Bank – The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and the Palestinian Authority celebrated the completion of 5 rehabilitated roads, 4 new schools, and a water project in the Northern West Bank at an event held in Arrabeh in the Jenin Governorate on Thursday. The event, held under the auspices of Prime Minister Salam Fayyad, was attended by Minister of Public Works and Housing Mohammad Shtayeh, Minister of Planning Ali Jirbawi, the U.S. Consul General Daniel Rubinstein, USAID Mission Director Howard Sumka, Governor of Jenin Kaddoura Mousa, Deputy Education Minister Mohammad Abu Zneid, and Deputy Head of the Palestinian Water Authority Khalil Ghabeesh, as well as municipal and community representatives. The new projects inaugurated in the Northern West Bank were designed and built in coordination with the Palestinian Authority and funded through USAID’s Infrastructure Needs Program, with a total cost of $31.8 million. This amount was part of the $64.5 million spent through the Infrastructure Needs Program to improve infrastructure in the whole West Bank in 2009.
The new projects consist of 32.8 kilometers of rehabilitated traffic arteries: Arrabeh – Ya’bad Road, Tulkarem Western Entrance Road, Bureen-Madama-Asira Al Quibliya-Urif Road, Badhan Main Road and Yasid Jaba’a Road. These roads will significantly improve the movement of people and goods and enhance business in the Northern West Bank communities. The USAID program also built four new schools, including Qalqiliya Girls School, Jalboon Coeducational Elementary School, Salem Coeducational Basic School, and Shofeh Secondary School for Boys. The schools now provide more classroom space and better education environment for 1,840 students. Finally, the program constructed the Bureen Water System which consists of 4.3 kilometers of new main transmission line, 14 kilometers of distribution network, a new 500 cubic meter water reservoir and a booster station, enabling the community to have clean, piped-in drinking water.
In 2010, USAID will invest $153 million through the Infrastructure Needs Program in additional infrastructure development throughout the West Bank. The program will focus particularly on the construction of main and internal roads, creating connectivity between various Governorates. The program will also create new water supply projects which are expected to benefit nearly 1.4 million Palestinians.
USAID’s $300 million Infrastructure Needs Program was launched in October 2008 in cooperation with the Palestinian Authority to build Palestinian infrastructure and improve the economic conditions and well-being of Palestinian people.
Since 1994, USAID has provided more than $2.5 billion in U.S. economic assistance to Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza via projects designed to reduce poverty, improve health and education, build infrastructure, create jobs, and promote democracy and good governance.
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