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AMMAN — Amani Ammoura has a passion for jogging and cycling, but she feels that practising such sports is dangerous due to lack of safe venues in the capital.

"Walking on the pavement is difficult in Amman because of the growing number of trees planted on the pavement. This forces me to walk on the street, which is really dangerous," the private sector employee told The Jordan Times. 

Ammoura and many other Ammanis interviewed by The Jordan Times agreed that the city's infrastructure is not suitable for pedestrians, let alone practising sports.

She and others noted that trees, mostly olive saplings, are not the only obstacles facing pedestrians, naming parked cars, construction material, merchandise placed by shops on pavements, and in many cases the lack of sidewalks in certain areas.

"We encounter debris and construction material on the pavements and no one bothers to remove them." 

She added that she personally does not oppose the idea of beautifying pavements, but these efforts have to be organised in a manner that does not harm pedestrians.   

Greater Amman Municipality (GAM) spokesperson Izzedin Shammout said there are regulations that control the planting of trees on pavements. 

"It is not allowed to have a tree placed on a pavement whose width is less than 1.5m. Also, if a person violates the regulations, GAM is authorised to remove the trees because the pavement is public property just like the street," he told The Jordan Times over the phone. 

Saleh Abu Saud complained that many motorists park their cars on sidewalks due to lack of parking space, mainly in the city centre. 

"If the pavement is full of cars, where am I supposed to walk?" he asked. 

Parking spaces

Apart from the limited space on pavements, many shopkeepers and residents block public spaces in front of their stores and houses so that no one can park outside, according to Fouad Abu Mazer, a retired private sector employee.

"Public space does not belong to them and it is the right of motorists to park wherever they find space. There is already a lack of parking spaces in Amman," he added. 

Abu Saud agreed, adding that this phenomenon is obvious in downtown Amman and other commercial districts, where many vendors justify blocking the entrances of their stores by claiming that they are expecting a truck to unload goods.  

"We end up spending a long time looking for a parking space," he said. 

Shammout said a municipal team works in two shifts in order to remove trees from pavements and clear items shopkeepers use to block the space in front of their shops.

"We impose a JD10 fine on people who block entrances. Also, when trees are placed on pavements, that means that they belong to GAM, so we also remove them. There are no specific figures as to the items we confiscated, but the process is ongoing," he told The Jordan Times. 

The municipality official advised people to approach GAM before they plant trees to see which are suitable and do not harm motorists or pedestrians. 

"There are many residents who plant olive trees... we usually uproot these trees and replant them on the airport road," he added.

Thanaa Halasa, a private sector employee, said she has doubts about the presence of teams touring the city to clear street and sidewalk obstructions. 

As for Ammoura, she charged that inspection teams operate according to "wasta" (favouritism). 

"Once we were cycling in Dabouq in west Amman, and we were surprised that a team from GAM was there to observe what they described as a violation because there was a resident who was annoyed by the noise of the bicycles, whereas we do not see such teams dealing with many other important issues," she recalled.  

Ammoura suggested having a specific area on the pavement designated for trees and another for people who want to walk or ride a bicycle, calling also for fining jaywalkers if safe sidewalks are available.   

"You see this everywhere in Europe. Why don't we have something similar here?"

AMMAN — A Public Security Department (PSD) pilot was killed and his co-pilot was injured when their helicopter crashed while they were carrying out a night training mission near Zai, Salt, a PSD source said  on Tuesday. 

Civil Defence Department personnel evacuated the body and took the wounded pilot, whose condition was reported as fair, to hospital, according to the Jordan News Agency, Petra.

The PSD said the crash was due to a technical malfunction, expressing its condolences to the family of the pilot.

A team has been formed to investigate the incident, a PSD statement said.

A security source identified the deceased pilot as Lt. Hazem Hassouneh and the injured as Captain Hussein Najdawi.

Hassouneh’s uncle, Ibrahim, was a major with the Royal Jordanian Air Force (RJAF). He died in April last year when his jet fighter crashed in the north of the Kingdom during a training mission.

His student, Laith Ali from Iraq, was also killed in the crash.

In mid-January, an RJAF aircraft crashed during a regular training mission due to a technical failure.

In a statement carried by Petra at the time, a Jordan Armed Forces-Arab Army official said the two pilots ejected and parachuted safely. 

In May 2013, pilot Lt. Col. Maen Duheisat and student pilot Nael Khashman were killed in a crash near the King Hussein Airbase in Mafraq, close to the Syrian border, when their Firefly plane crashed due to technical problems. 

AMMAN — The Ministry of Public Sector Development on Tuesday said it received 404 complaints against the quality of services offered by 42 government institutions during the last quarter of 2015.

In a statement e-mailed to The Jordan Times, the ministry said the report showcasing the complaints has been referred to Prime Minister Abdullah Ensour.

Minister of Public Sector Development Khleef Al Khawaldeh said nearly 60 per cent of the complaints were regarding the level of services provided by the health, municipal affairs and education ministries; the Greater Amman Municipality; the Social Security Corporation; the Jordan Water Company (Miyahuna); and the Energy and Minerals Regulatory Commission.

Khawaldeh added that the report aims to address shortcomings affecting the quality of services, enhance accountability and evaluate the performance of public sector agencies.

The minister said 52 per cent of the complaints were made by Amman residents, followed by Irbid (9 per cent) and Zarqa
(8 per cent).

Most of the complaints in the
October-December period were related to unpaved roads, garbage accumulation, water supply disruptions, damage to water networks, holes on streets, blocked manholes and the need to build fortifying walls, according to Khawaldeh.

The public can call the specialised unit that receives feedback on 06/5008080 to lodge their complaints against government agencies, or fill an online form on the ministry's website: www.mopsd.gov.jo, the statement said.

AMMAN — The Lower House Integrity Committee recently asked the tourism minister to provide a list containing the ancient artefacts, coins and antiquities that are displayed in the Kingdom’s museums.

The request was made following the discovery of fake ancient gold and silver coins in the Citadel Museum in Amman recently, MP Amjad Al Khattab (Maan, 1st District) said.

“There were 401 ancient coins in the Citadel Museum and someone replaced 400 of these priceless pieces with fake ones,” Khattab told The Jordan Times over the phone on Tuesday.

The deputy said a French archaeologist discovered these ancient gold coins along with a Jordanian excavation team a few years ago.

“The French archaeologist had brought students to Jordan to show them his discovery, and found out that the coins were fake and alerted the concerned authorities,” Khattab added.

The MP, who chairs the House Integrity Committee, said its members met with the Tourism Minister Nayef Al Fayez on Monday to learn more about the incident and the procedures taken to prevent such incidents from occurring in the future.

“We could not obtain a lot of information regarding the timeframe of the incident or who might be involved.  It could have happened last week or during the past 10 years,” the deputy said.

The Jordan News Agency, Petra, on Monday said the Tourism Ministry has referred the case to the concerned authorities for investigations.

Fayez also formed a committee to investigate the incident, Petra reported.

The minister acknowledged that there is a clear “malfunction in the current procedures at the Department of Antiquities, and that the ministry is working to address it to avoid the recurrence of such incidents”, according to Petra.

But Khattab was less optimistic, voicing fear that “other museums could have been the target of similar scams”.

“At this point, we have no idea if other museums were targeted, and that is why we have asked the ministry to provide us with a list of what is on display in these places,” the lawmaker said.

“Jordan could lose its archaeological fortune because of the lax security at museums,” he warned.

“We have moved out of fear of losing this treasure and thus losing our identity.  Someone is forging the history of our country. That is why we want to know what is available in our museums,” the deputy stressed.

Former director of the inspection department at the Tourism Ministry Wajih Ammari said that there is a museum or more in each of the Kingdom’s 12 governorates.

"Most probably, the replaced coins were found 15 years ago in two areas in the country,” said Ammari, who worked for 30 years at the ministry.

“These coins were discovered by French and other foreign archaeologists with Jordanian teams.  They are priceless,” he told The Jordan Times.

The former official, who retired 10 years ago, said he had "no clue how this happened”.

“I knew most of the people who worked at the Citadel Museum. They are good people who cared about preserving the priceless and ancient pieces on display,” Ammari stressed.

AMMAN — Jordanian prisoner in Israel, Akram Abu Zahrah, has been on hunger strike since January 23 and started refusing water on Saturday, protesting his continued detention after the end of his prison term, an activist said on Tuesday.

Shireen Nafe, a member of the media team supporting Jordanian prisoners in Israel (Fedaa), said the team received the information 10 days after Abu Zahrah started the strike through his attorney Arwa Hulihel.

"He embarked on the strike because he felt maltreated by Israel, and that Jordanian authorities are stalling in granting him permission to come back to Jordan," she told The Jordan Times over the phone.

The 47-year-old Jordanian finished his prison term on January 14 after serving 14 years for protesting against former Israeli prime minister Ariel Sharon’s visit to Al Aqsa Mosque, which sparked the second Intifada (uprising).

"His attorney has recently visited court to check on his condition, and [Israeli] officials told her they only want a paper from the Jordanian authorities allowing him entry into the Kingdom," Nafe explained.

The Israeli authorities cannot allow the freed prisoner to stay there without a residence permit and decided to keep him in prison until Jordanian authorities approve his return, she said in previous remarks.

The activist said Abu Zahrah's mother went to the Foreign Ministry on Sunday to receive the entry permit, but ministry officials told her that relevant authorities had not issued the document yet.

The mother asked the International Committee of the Red Cross in Jordan to intervene in her son's case, but their reply was that the organisation could not provide help because Jordan and Israel have a peace treaty through which they can communicate directly, Nafe noted.

Officials at the Foreign Ministry were not available to comment regarding their procedures to secure Abu Zahrah's return to the Kingdom despite several attempts by The Jordan Times to reach them.

AMMAN — The Lower House on Tuesday endorsed law amendments to increase immediate cash aid paid to the heirs of public security and civil defence department martyrs to JD10, 000.

During their deliberations of the 2015 amendments to the martyr fund laws of the two security agencies, MPs decided to raise the cash aid given to the successors of martyrs from the JD500 and JD2,000 set in the old laws and the government’s version respectively.

Lawmakers urged the government to speed up its amendment of the Jordan Armed Forces-Arab Army’s martyr fund law to increase the immediate cash aid to heirs of army martyrs as well.

The House also endorsed the new amendments to the Higher Education Accreditation Commission Law and the Patent Law.

Tuesday’s session began with some MPs asking the government about a number of issues. 

MP Amjad Majali (Unified Front list) asked about the authenticity of reports on a visit to Jordan by a delegation from the US Noble Energy which exports Israeli natural gas.

If the visit really took place, Majali called on the government to refrain from entering into negotiations that “serve the Israelis”.

Although Prime Minister Abdullah Ensour expressed the government’s readiness to answer the question, Majali’s request was turned down by Lower House Speaker Atef Tarawneh, who insisted on committing to the session’s agenda.

In 2015, the state-owned National Electric Power Company signed a letter of intent with Noble Energy, which owns 39 per cent of the Leviathan natural gas field in Israel, to buy gas over a period of 15 years at a total cost of $15 billion starting late 2017. 

Progress on the deal was halted after Israeli Antitrust Commissioner David Gilo said he was rescinding an agreement he had reached with Noble Energy and Delek Group in March 2015 that would have allowed the two companies to retain majority stakes in Israel’s two biggest gas fields, Tamar and Leviathan.

In December 2015, Energy Minister Ibrahim Saif told the Lower House that Jordan neither imports natural gas from Israel nor plans to do so.

Saif said, the issue of importing natural gas from Israel “was halted and the deal with the American company shelved”.

The minister added that the liquefied natural gas imported and stored at the terminal in Aqaba covers 85 per cent of electricity companies’ needs.     

AMMAN — Two people died on Tuesday in separate incidents among more than 112 that the Civil Defence Department (CDD) dealt with in 24 hours, a source at the CDD media centre said on Tuesday.

In Amman’s Ain Al Basha area, a five-year-old was run over by vehicle while trying to cross the street, the source told The Jordan Times over the phone.

Another person died and three others were injured when their vehicle overturned in Aqaba, some 330km south of Amman. 

CDD personnel administered first aid to the injured and took them to Prince Hashem Military Hospital, where they were their condition varied between fair and critical, he added.

The CDD also dealt with a three-vehicle collision on the Amman-Zarqa Highway that resulted in six injuries, the source said on condition of anonymity, adding that they were transferred to Prince Hamzah Public Hospital where they were listed in fair condition.

In Rahab area in Mafraq Governorate, some 80km northeast of Amman, a five people were injured in a two-vehicle collision, the source said, adding that CDD personnel provided first aid and took the injured to Prince Hashem Military Hospital where they were listed in fair condition.

A CDD statement sent to The Jordan Times said firefighters on Tuesday extinguished a fire that erupted in an under-construction building near the 6th Circle. 

No injuries were reported in the fire, which extended over 700m, according to the CDD. 

Department personnel also extinguished a house fire in Tabarbour area caused by keeping the gas heater close to furniture. 

Six people suffered shortness of breath in the fire and were sent to Prince Hamzah Public Hospital, where they were reported to be in fair condition, according to the statement.

AMMAN — The Jordan Food Exhibition 2016 is a chance for local foodstuff manufacturers and traders to tap into opportunities in new markets to boost exports, a sector leader said on Tuesday.

The exhibition, which opens on June 1, is an invitation for local traders to look into alternative markets as Jordan’s major markets in Syria and Iraq are currently closed, said Foodstuff Traders Association President Khalil Haj Tawfiq, citing participations from Turkey and Thailand as examples.

He said the event, which will feature over 100 foreign companies and a similar number of local ones, is also a chance for Arab and foreign investors to consider the Jordanian market as a destination to start their businesses.

The five-day exhibition, held in partnership with the International Promoters Company, will take place at Al Hussein Youth City.

Last year’s exhibition attracted some 150,000 visitors to booths of 100 food companies and factories, with the volume of sales exceeding JD10 million, Haj Tawfiq said, expecting the numbers to double this year.

“This year we had more time to plan for the exhibition and took into consideration the comments on the previous event,” he told The Jordan Times over the phone.

The association will send invitations to a “large” number of Jordanian, Arab and international businesspeople, as well as chambers of commerce and industry, Haj Tawfiq explained.

“We are also studying holding a conference on the sidelines of the exhibition, where participants can share their expertise in the field,” he said, adding that the exhibition’s administration received requests to include a category for food production machinery.

Participating traders in this year’s exhibition will also provide offers and discounts on direct sales and transactions, and will offer tasting and live cooking activities, the sector leader noted.

AMMAN — Four defendants allegedly affiliated with the Daesh terror group, standing trial at the State Security Court (SSC) on charges of targeting military personnel in Jordan in July, have pleaded not guilty.

“The four pleaded not guilty on Monday during their opening trial,” a senior judicial source told The Jordan Times on Tuesday.

According to the prosecution charge sheet, the four suspects were relatives and they formed a group consisting of nine people on the WhatsApp mobile application to support Daesh.

“One of the group members managed to contact a Jordanian man in Syria named Abu Baker who belonged to Daesh and informed him that the four of them wanted to launch an operation against Jordan Armed Forces-Arab Army personnel and needed his help,” the charge sheet said.

One defendant managed to obtain a gun and informed the three other suspects, according to the charge sheet, and they all agreed “to attack an army convoy in an isolated area”.

“The suspects found a street where the army convoy would drive by slowly and they could shoot at it easily,” the charge sheet said.

However, the four were arrested by security forces before they were able to carry out any of their alleged plans, the charge sheet added.

The SSC tribunal, which is headed by Col. Judge Raed Izmegna, adjourned the session until next Monday to hear prosecution witnesses, the judicial source said.

AMMAN — The governorate development programme for 2013-2016, implemented by the Ministry of Planning and International Cooperation, provided JD53.3 million in 2015 to implement key development projects, the ministry announced on Tuesday.

The 2014 allocations funded 105 schemes worth JD830,000 to support the needs of local communities in governorates, which were identified through field visits by ministerial teams, according to a ministry statement.

In 2015, the education sector received JD17.2 million, and the healthcare sector received JD10 million, while JD8.777 million was allocated for the municipalities sector, and JD4.27 million was directed to the tourism and antiquities sector.

In terms of fund distributions at the governorate level, Tafileh received JD5.358 million, Balqa got JD4.993 million and Karak obtained JD4.887 million, followed by Maan with JD4.055 million, the statement added.

Also in 2015, the government paid field visits to the governorates on two phases to discuss governorate development programmes for the years 2016- 2018, the first of which was carried out between May 10 and June 7 by a team from the Ministry of Planning and International Cooperation.

A ministerial team headed by Planning Minister Imad Fakhoury with the membership of ministries’ secretaries general paid the second phase of the visits between August 19 and September 6, the statement added.

The ministerial team held 12 meetings, one in each governorate, with representatives of various sectors and lawmakers from each governorate, and the discussions resulted in issuing 12 documents detailing local communities’ needs and priorities to be financed according to available funds.