Mubasher: The Jordanian and Japanese governments have signed an additional grant agreement worth $12.6 million to finance a water network expansion project in Al-Balqa governorate, west of Jordan, according to the Kuwait News Agency (KUNA).

The Jordanian minister of planning Emad Al-Fakhouri said it is the second grant deal allocated to complete the project whose first phase was also funded by Japan in 2014 with $20 million, according to an official statement, adding that Jordan is grateful to Japan for its understanding that Amman is facing social and economic challenges due to hosting of about 1.4 million Syrian refugees.

Jordan has obtained around $1.3 billion from Japan in soft loans, grants and technical assistance, as showb by official figures.