Eleven international firms have passed the qualifying phase of an ongoing process to choose a contractor to dig a canal between the Dead Sea and the Red Sea.
The eleven firms will now submit feasibility studies to the joint Israeli-Jordanian-Palestinian committee overseeing the project, reported Agence France Presse.
The project is expected to take up to 25 years to complete.
In addition to reviving the rapidly shrinking Dead Sea - the lowest place on earth and the most saline body of water on the planet - the canal will also provide some 850 million cubic meters of water per year to Israel and Jordan.