Read Online Olives by Alexander McNabb - Free Book Online Page A

about
Petra-Jordanian’s bid for the potash extraction contracts, the uses
of potash, the benefits for Jordan and so on. Saunders made a big
fuss about how close to the Minister they were, how they all shared
common goals and a vision for the future of Jordan and I soon found
myself drifting away, looking around his untidy office. Books,
magazines and documents covered virtually every surface, from his
desktop to the low cabinets behind him. As he droned on about
sustainable resources, talking more to Aisha than to me, my gaze
wandered to a map of Jordan’s Rift Valley pinned up on the wall and
covered in coloured push-pins and lines. It was next to a
whiteboard marked up with co-ordinates and a table of
numbers.
    Saunders
talked himself to a momentary halt and I pointed to the wall
display.
    ‘ What are
those all about? That doesn’t look like potash.’
    Saunders
looked up to his left at the map, blinking owlishly as he adjusted
from droning about potash to answering my question.
    ‘ Oh, that’s
planning work for the water privatisation. We’re the lead member of
the Anglo-Jordanian Consortium. You’ve heard about the
privatisation, haven’t you?’
    ‘ The
Minister’s talked about it, but we hadn’t planned to cover it in
any great depth in the magazine.’
    ‘ Well, you
should. It’s important for Jordan. Right now, the country’s in a
state of drought. Water has to be taken into Amman by tankers,
there’s little piped water infrastructure and it’s mostly ancient.
Jordanian farmers are suffering from very severe restrictions
because there’s simply not enough water to go around. The Yarmouk
River’s being depleted left, right and centre, the Jordan River’s
going brackish and the Israelis are holding back on the volume
they’re meant to be providing from Lake Tiberias. The country’s
damn close to crisis and we believe we can help to manage those
resources effectively into the future.’
    ‘ Can I quote
you on that?’
    ‘ Okay, but
please don’t go into any technicalities. Our bid is complicated and
we’re using some pretty groundbreaking technologies and approaches
to water resourcing, management and distribution.’
    I took notes
in shorthand to back up the tape, finishing the sentence before I
looked up into Saunders’ blue-eyed, frank stare. ‘What’s the scale
of the problem?’ I asked.
    ‘ Massive.
Jordan has one of the world’s lowest levels of water resources. The
country’s supply stands at less than a quarter of the accepted
global water poverty level. And a huge amount, something like
twenty-five per cent of that water, is currently coming from
over-pumping unsustainable resources. Experts are forecasting the
water supply will be a potential humanitarian disaster within
fifteen years or so. Personally, I think it’ll come
sooner.’
    ‘ What’s the
government doing?’
    Saunders
reached behind him and pulled out a thick, spiral bound document.
‘This is the National Water Strategy. It was adopted in the late
nineties and outlined any number of approaches to the problem but
at the end of the day it didn’t result in concrete action. That’s
one of the reasons the Ministry of Natural Resources was formed, to
unify the government’s response. And that’s why they’re going into
this privatisation process. It’ll likely be the single largest
privatisation the country’s ever seen. It’s critical to Jordan’s
future.’
    Saunders
paused and I sensed the inevitable spiel to come. I wasn’t
disappointed. He laid his hands flat on the desk and leaned
forwards, brows knit in intense sincerity. ‘And we at
Anglo-Jordanian believe we have the solutions Jordan
needs.’
    Right, of
course you do. I asked
because I had to, ‘What’s the privatisation worth?’
    ‘ No
comment.’
    Saunders got
to his feet. The interview, it seemed, was over. I picked up the
tape and whipped out my camera for few snaps, making sure for the
last two that the map and whiteboard next to it were