A senior World Bank official Thursday called on Israel to lift economic restrictions on the Gaza Strip to rapid competition of a wastewater treatment project.

David Craig, World Bank Country Director for West Bank and Gaza, said the delay of the North Gaza Emergency Sewage Treatment Project (NGEST) was due to the Israeli restrictions on goods and construction materials delivery to Gaza, namely cement.

Israel has imposed blockade on the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip since the Islamist Hamas movement seized power in the Palestinian enclave in June 2007.

Craig's remarks were made as he visited the NGEST location in northern Gaza town of Beit Lahiya.

The project was designed to respond to the emergency needs, based on a longer term vision for treatment of wastewater for the northern governorate in Gaza.

Once it is completed, the two-part project would benefit 300,000 people living in northern Gaza Strip.

The first part of the project will address the immediate and impending health, environment and safety hazards to the communities near the poorly-treated sewage effluent lake in the Beit Lahiya, according to Craig.

The World Bank and the European Investment Bank financed this part with about 13.5 million U.S. dollars.

"The completion of this part has been delayed mainly by the restrictions on the entry of goods and different construction materials into Gaza for the last few years," Craig said.

Meanwhile, the Israeli military operation in the Gaza Strip in December and January has caused some damage to the project.

Craig said the financing of second part "has been nearly secured through the commitments of the donors, including France, the European Union, Sweden, Belgium and the World Bank."

(Xinhua News Agency September 11, 2009)