Ministerial authorities to be transferred to governorates — Razzaz

AMMAN — The government will embark on transferring many authorities of the ministries to affiliated departments in governorates in a bid to render the de-centralisation experiment a success, Prime Minister Omar Razzaz said on Tuesday.

During a meeting at the Prime Ministry with governorate council presidents, Razzaz highlighted the importance of going forward with the implementation of service projects in the governorates, and overcoming bureaucratic obstacles and procedures that cause delays in executing such schemes, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported.

The premier urged for implementing necessary procedures to start with these projects, noting that the success of governorate councils is associated with the completion of such ventures and the development of the level of services presented to citizens. 

He stressed that the government is currently studying all demands presented by governorate council presidents, and is working to implement them as soon as possible according to priority and available resources.

Razzaz also directed stakeholders to form a joint technical committee that comprises representatives of relevant ministries and several governorate council presidents to examine all pending issues and decide on which projects should be implemented, as well as start preparations to draft next year’s budget.

The premier directed stakeholders to implement all necessary legislative and administrative procedures to establish a unit tasked with coordination and following up on floating tenders and implementation of projects, provided that this unit has to be connected with the executive council and the governorate headquarters and coordinates with stakeholders. 

Meanwhile, council presidents called for developing a communication mechanism between the councils and the general budget department to provide assistance and reply to their inquiries on budgets, projects, tenders and other financial issues. 

They also called for controlling project costs and reallocating surplus of budgets for employment purposes.