Local

AMMAN — Public expenditure on the Tafileh Governorate development programme between 2016 and 2018 is expected to stand at around JD149.272 million, Planning and International Cooperation Minister Imad Fakhoury said Sunday.

At a meeting with lawmakers, officials and local community representatives in the governorate, some 180km southwest of Amman, Fakhoury said the estimated cost of development projects for 2016 is JD42.672 million, while it stands at JD49.976 million for 2017, and JD56.624 million for 2018, according to a ministry statement.

Fakhoury urged the specialised local team in Tafileh to select priority projects ready for implementation to receive proper funding.

He also said that the development programme identifies problems and challenges facing Tafileh like poverty and unemployment, as it is the governorate that suffers the most from these problems.

The unemployment rate in Tafileh stood at 15.4 per cent in comparison with 11.9 per cent nationwide, while the poverty rate stood at 17.2 per cent in comparison with 14.4 per cent nationwide, the minister added, according to the statement.

With Tafileh among the governorates affected by the Syrian refugee influx, Fakhoury said around $263,468 in funds have been approved in the Jordan Response Plan for projects in the governorate, which has a population of 93,400 according to the Department of Statistics’ 2014 estimates.

He stressed that the government will request more international support in this regard.

Fakhoury said the ministry will work in coordination with various loan funds and micro-financing institutions to finance the available investment opportunities and coordinate with the Jordan Investment Commission to promote them and attract investors.

Tafileh Governor Hakem Mahamid, a representative of the interior ministers, and secretaries general of several ministries also attended the meeting.

ZARQA — The Public Security Department (PSD) during the first six months of 2015 implemented 24,405 security campaigns, resulting in apprehending 125,666 people, 115,442 of whom are Jordanians, a PSD official said Sunday.

In a lecture delivered at Zarqa University on behalf of PSD Director Maj. Gen. Atef Saudi, Deputy PSD Director for Criminal Investigation Affairs Maj. Gen. Tahsin Momani said 11,627 crimes and 1,082 car thefts were registered in the same period, with 85.6 and 78 per cent of these cases solved respectively.

Momani added that the same period witnessed 5,490 drug cases, 468 of which were related to trafficking, 36 related to addiction and 4,986 related to possession, noting that Jordan remains a corridor country for drug trafficking and is not a target.

There were also 1,105 electronic crimes, 91 intellectual property crimes and 13 human trafficking cases in the first half of this year, the PSD official added.

The PSD, in cooperation with stakeholders, detected 159,850 environmental violations, while the PSD’s Family Protection Administration dealt with 204 family cases in the January-July period, the deputy director added.

By the end of July, 72,290 traffic accidents were recorded in the Kingdom resulting in 338 deaths and 6,102 injuries, Momani added, noting that traffic accidents decreased “drastically” compared to the previous three years.

A total of 1.385 million Syrians have sought refuge in Jordan so far since the start of the crisis in their country, he said, adding that this prompted the PSD to install 101 cameras in police stations and 31 in refugee camps.

AMMAN — Pumping via the Sultani-Ghweir carrier, the main supplier of water to Karak Governorate, resumed on Sunday after technical teams fixed the worn-out pipeline, according to government officials.

The pipeline, which transfers water from the Sultani wells to the Ghweir main water pumping station, malfunctioned last Thursday and stopped pumping for 12 hours before technical teams fixed it, an official said, noting that pumping via the same carrier stopped again on Saturday.

“The pipeline is old and worn out; it often malfunctions and forces us to stop pumping water to subscribers until the problem is fixed. Pumping resumed Sunday at noon after the pipeline was fixed,” Samer Maaytah, the head of Karak Water Directorate, told The Jordan Times.

The 34-kilometre Sultani-Ghweir carrier transfers 500 cubic metres of water per hour to the Ghweir pumping station, Maaytah said, underscoring that it supplies water to 70 per cent of Karak’s 49,000 subscribers.

Ministry of Water and Irrigation Spokesperson Omar Salameh said the ministry is planning to replace the carrier.

“Plans are currently under way to solve the problem of recurring malfunctions and water cuts,” Salameh told The Jordan Times.

Maaytah underscored that a tender for replacing the pipeline has been awarded to a local company, expecting work to replace the carrier to commence next month.

“The capacity of the carrier will be increased from 500 cubic metres per hour to 1,500 cubic metres per hour to accommodate the growing need for water,” Maaytah said.

Replacing the existing carrier with a new one will cost JD7.8 million, according to the official.

Karak, situated 120 kilometres south of Amman, has a population of 260,400 people, according to the Department of Statistics’ 2014 estimates.

The governorate is home to several of the country’s main wells, streams and dams.

Water per capita in Karak stands at 180-200 litres per day, according to the Water Ministry, which describes the amount as above average.

However, 50-60 per cent of the supplied water is lost through leakage due to violations and deteriorated water networks, pipes and pumping stations.

AMMAN — Jordan Customs Department (JCD) agents on Sunday seized 500 mobile phones that were being smuggled from Saudi Arabia to Jordan, an official source said.

The smuggled shipments were reportedly on board an empty bus that was crossing the Kingdom at the Omari border crossing, a senior JCD official said.

“One of our agents became suspicious because the bus was empty and when he went to check it, he found the toilet door locked which made him even more suspicious,” the JCD official told The Jordan Times.

Following a thorough search of the bus, the official added, agents found the devices hidden in the air conditioning units of the bus and inside the toilet.

“This was really one of the unusual ways to smuggle goods but we are content that we were able to abort this operation,” the official added.

The fine for the seized shipments and the bus that allegedly was carrying the smuggled shipment was estimated at JD99,000 according to a statement by the JCD. 

The official said the goods and the bus will be released to their owners “once they pay the required fines imposed against them by the Customs Department prosecutor and after they are cleared by the Jordan Standards and Metrology Organisation”.

“These goods could be hazardous to the environment if they do not meet our specification and at the same time we have to make sure they are not imitations as part of our commitment to intellectual properties laws,” the JCD official stressed.

AMMAN – Amman Governor Khaled Abu Zaid has formed a committee to hold inspection visits to restaurants and malls with children’s play areas, a Greater Amman Municipality (GAM) official said Sunday.  

The committee will start conducting its field visits Tuesday in order to ensure children’s safety, said Raed Haddadin, director of the building control department at GAM. 

“We will start checking each restaurant and mall that has a play area in the capital. The aim behind the step is not to issue fines, but to ensure a safe environment for children,” he told The Jordan Times over the phone. 

Haddadin said committee teams will ensure that the facilities undergo regular maintenance and that the space in these venues is sufficient and in accordance with regulations.

“We will also see if these restaurants have surveillance cameras to make sure children are not left unattended and to enable their parents to keep an eye on them,” he added. 

The committee consists of representatives of the Ministry of Public Works and Housing, the Ministry of Tourism, GAM, the Civil Defence Department, the Jordan Standards and Metrology Organisation and the Jordan Association for Restaurants and Sweets Shops Owners (JARSSO), according to a GAM statement. 

The committee was formed following the recent incident at a branch of a fast-food restaurant chain, which resulted in the death of a five-year-old. 

Five-year-old Ezziddin Al Hirsh reportedly died of electric shock in the play area of Hardee’s branch on Medina Munawara Street during the Eid Al Fitr holiday in late July. 

Haddadin said if any restaurant or mall violates regulations, they will be notified first and given a week-long grace period. Afterwards, if they fail to address the violation, the outlet will be closed down. 

Around 120 restaurants have play areas and 90 per cent of them are located in the capital, according to JARSSO.

AMMAN — Measures taken by Jordan to safeguard the rights of domestic workers, who reached more than 49,000 by the end of 2014, are "very advanced" and are contributing to improving the overall human rights situation in the country, according to an official source.

The new measures, which also seek to combat human trafficking, are believed to be providing better protection to domestic workers and a work environment in line with international standards, according to Bassel Tarawneh, the government coordinator on human rights.

The new regulations give the labour minister the authority to immediately close down domestic helper recruitment agencies proven to violate human rights, while work is under way to establish shelters for those who face problems with their employers. 

"The shelters will accommodate the workers until their problems are resolved by either working for another employer or returning to their countries," according to a statement received by The Jordan Times on a report examining the Labour Ministry's human rights measures. 

In addition, the ministry has revisited the unified contract for domestic workers to safeguard the rights and duties of all involved parties in cooperation with their embassies.

The ministry has also reached out to the Public Security Department (PSD) to urge police stations not to return domestic helpers to their employers unless through a representative from their respective embassies. 

The measures also include initiating a hotline in five languages for domestic labourers to receive their complaints, said the report.   

"These very advanced procedures are part of the government's comprehensive approach towards improving the human rights system," Tarawneh told The Jordan Times over the phone on Sunday.

In the report, he highlighted that efforts are under way to amend legislation governing forced labour in cooperation with the Anti-Human Trafficking National Committee.

A total of 14,382 nationals of the Philippines, 5,759 Sri Lankans and 22,433 Bangladeshis were working as domestic helpers in Jordan in 2014, according to the report.  

It also indicated that a total of 58 cases of human trafficking were referred to the prosecutor general in 2014, compared to 27 similar cases in 2013.

The cases involved 123 perpetrators and 165 victims, including 121 females.

They varied from organ removal (five cases) and sexual exploitation (10), to forced labour for domestic helpers (34) and forced work (34). 

In addition, 258 cases of labour disputes were examined by courts last year. 

The report highlighted that women and guest workers are the most vulnerable to human trafficking crimes and forced labour and that inspectors at the PSD human trafficking unit carry out visits to recruitment offices to track down cases of forced labour and human trafficking.

The unit has also been accommodating human trafficking victims in cooperation with the Jordanian Women's Union, offering shelter to 122 women last year.

"The new measures are deemed as an advanced step to address imbalances that stood in the way of combating human trafficking," said Tarawneh, adding that the procedures also contributed to enhancing the relationship between the government and local, regional and international human rights organisations.

Meanwhile, the coordinator cited a plan to be applied in the coming four months that entails reaching out to governorates and remote areas to study the situation of human rights and present the findings to the prime minister.

In 2003, Jordan became the first Arab country to use a unified standard contract for domestic workers, and in 2008 it included domestic workers under its Labour Law.

In 2009, the government issued regulations specifying labour protection, such as a maximum of 10 hours of work per day, a minimum of eight hours of continuous rest daily, a weekly day of rest, and regular salary payments. 

That same year the government ratified the Anti-Human Trafficking Law and formed a national committee to draw up policies and plans to prevent human trafficking.

AMMAN — A new case of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) coronavirus-related infection has been registered in the Kingdom, the Health Ministry said Sunday.

The diagnosed 56-year-old patient suffers from diabetes, blood pressure-related diseases and kidney failure, said Mohammad Abdullat, director of the ministry’s communicable diseases control department.

The patient also recently underwent open-heart surgery, Abdullat added. A team from the directorate is supervising the private hospital’s measures to prevent the spread of the infection and is also following up on the situation of the patient’s relatives and the medical staff who examined him. Since the MERS virus was first registered in Jordan in 2012, 17 cases have been recorded.

AMMAN — MPs on Sunday linked the licensing of currency exchange agencies to gaining approval from the Central Bank of Jordan (CBJ).

A majority of MPs, during Sunday’s Lower House session, passed a provision in the draft law governing money exchange work, stipulating that no money exchange shop shall be officially registered at concerned institutions unless it gains the initial approval of the CBJ board, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported.

Under 2015 amendments to the 2005 law governing currency exchange, the CBJ’s jurisdiction in licensing and regulating exchange agencies was expanded.

As endorsed by the Lower House’s Economic and Investment Committee and passed by a majority of lawmakers, exchange shops require approval from the CBJ board in order to be able to recruit non-Jordanians, and under a set quota.

The law, according to its validating reasons, is aimed at regulating the exchange business in the Kingdom.

AMMAN — The Senate’s legal and administrative committees on Sunday rejected the Lower House’s version of the draft decentralisation law, reinstating a 10 per cent women quota in governorate councils.

Last week, deputies passed the draft decentralisation law, cancelling a 15 per cent women’s quota that they themselves had introduced to the bill. The Senate panel also rejected the House’s amendments to the law under which candidates for governorate councils should hold a bachelor’s degree as the minimum academic requirement.

AMMAN — The National Centre for Human Resources Development on Sunday finished project arrangements to start training community college graduates, the first phase of which is targeting work safety supervisors, according to the centre’s president, Abdullah Ababneh.

He added that the project — jointly implemented with the Labour Ministry, the Civil Service Bureau and the Employment, Technical and Vocational Education Training Fund — seeks to reduce unemployment among diploma holders in underprivileged areas, targeting around 6,000 people.

Around 600 graduates are expected to join the project in its first phase. Graduates who finish training will be employed through a 12-month internship, where they will receive JD100 in addition to the salary the employer will pay, Ababneh announced.