Ultimately, it was decided that the project w'as neither feasible nor affordable and the tendering process was cut short after bids had already been submitted for the master plans at the beginning of 2012 (Global Water Intelligence, 2013). This experience suggests that better upstream project planning and due diligence is needed to ensure that project impacts can be managed and that the financial basis of the project is sound. Often, several experts and decision makers are involved across all hierarchy levels, including up to Cabinet level, as well as high-level officials from major donors and foreign governments in some cases.6 The prolonged negotiations for the extension of the As Amra plant were due to several factors according to the private partner involved, including the indirect effects of the Arab Spring, lack of political continuity owing to frequent Cabinet changes and difficult economic conditions (leading to several interest rate increases over 2012) (De Pazzis, 2014).