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Troubled new power plant leaves Jordan in debt to China

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Attarat power plant is seen some 100 kilometers (60 miles) south of Amman, Jordan, June 7, 2023. [AP Photo]

Jordan's Attarat power plant was envisioned as a landmark project promising to provide the desert kingdom with a major source of energy while solidifying its relations with China.

But weeks after its official opening, the site, a sea of black, crumbly rock in the barren desert south of Jordan's capital, is instead a source of heated controversy. Deals surrounding the plant put Jordan on the hook for billions of dollars in debt to China - all for a plant that is no longer needed for its energy, because of other agreements made since the project's conception.

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