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AMMAN — HRH Princess Basma, honorary president of the Young Women’s Christian Association (YWCA), on Monday attended a ceremony marking World YWCA Day, annually celebrated on April 24.

The princess voiced her pride in the YWCA’s achievements that serve the country and promote women’s rights, noting that Her Majesty, the late Queen Zain Al Sharaf, used to give special attention to the association due to its humanitarian role that focuses on peace, justice, freedom, equality and dignity.

During the ceremony, YWCA President Reem Najjar said the association is part of an international network of women working towards social and economic change.

AMMAN — The 2014-2016 National Strategic Plan for Correctional and Rehabilitation Centres was launched on Monday to improve the situation of inmates in prison and after their release.

The plan, which is based on best international practices, was jointly prepared by the Correctional and Rehabilitation Centres (CRCs) administration, Penal Reform International (PRI), the Public Security Department (PSD) and the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency.

Drafted to create a safe and humane prison environment that is based on human rights, the plan focuses on the need to reform the behaviour of inmates through enhancing the quality of services provided to them, according to stakeholders.

“The main goal of the plan is to reduce crime and implement strategies ensuring that repeat offenders break the cycle of crime, which can only be possible through improving the efficiency of programmes applied in prisons,” PRI Regional Director Taghreed Jaber said at a ceremony on Monday to launch the strategy.

The plan entails providing CRCs with qualified and trained human resources, amending legislation governing these facilities, developing infrastructure to be in line with international standards and building partnerships with the concerned stakeholders to provide better services to inmates.

“Investing in inmates is an investment for the sake of society,” noted Brig. Gen. Mahmoud Abu Jomaa, assistant director of the PSD’s judicial police, stressing the importance of the plan, which also stipulates increasing vocational and academic training courses for inmates.

The strategy also outlines the specific duties of each institution and the expected outcomes of applying each measure.

During Monday’s ceremony, a learning manual to follow a human rights approach at the CRCs administration was launched.

The guide will be taught as part of the administration’s training for all cadres in a bid to train them on ways to deal with prisoners and address their problems from a human rights perspective.

“The training material was prepared by specialised professors, and officers will sit in classrooms as if they have returned to school,” CRCs Administration Director Brig. Gen. Walid Battah said.

AMMAN — The government will submit new municipalities and political parties laws this year, and draft a new elections law in 2015 or 2016, Prime Minister Abdullah Ensour said Monday.

Ensour added that he is confident that these laws will contribute to entrenching political life in Jordan and bolstering the democratic parliamentary experience.

Delivering a lecture at the Royal Jordanian National Defence College, the premier said the economy, although relatively small and not exceeding JD30 billion, lost at least JD5 billion in the past three years, and is expected to incur more losses.

He said the losses include the cost of hosting Syrian refugees, security, trade, transportation and aviation.

The government cut expenditures in many fields by reducing the number of unnecessary administrative jobs, halting employment except for the education and health sectors, and cancelling and merging some public institutions, Ensour added.

He said that the Kingdom’s foreign currency reserves increased from $6.6 billion in 2012 to about $12 billion by late 2013.

The premier noted that the energy sector costs the country JD4 billion annually out of the JD9 billion budget.

The Kingdom has signed many agreements to initiate renewable energy projects that are expected to generate 900 megawatts, Ensour said.

Turning to the water sector, the prime minister said the Disi Water Conveyance Project will provide 100 million cubic metres (mcm), while the desalination of Red Sea water will provide another 100mcm.

The premier said the government will also work on improving the transportation and ICT sectors.

AMMAN — Construction work on Jordan’s first wind power plant, an investment worth $292 million, will start in the next few weeks, the Jordan Wind Project Company (JWPC) said Monday.

The 117-megawatt wind farm located in Tafileh, 180km southwest of Amman, is expected to be commercially operational in the last quarter of 2015, JWPC Chairman Samer Judeh told The Jordan Times on Monday.

The project is co-developed with InfraMed, which has a 50 per cent share, Abu Dhabi’s Masdar with 31 per cent and EP Global Energy with 19 per cent, Judeh said.

JWPC awarded a contract to Vestas to install turbines for the project, he added, noting that the wind farm will not only be the first in Jordan but also the first in the Middle East.

The wind farm is projected to generate about 400 gigawatt hours of electricity per year, which is sufficient to provide power to 150,000 Jordanians.

The 38 wind turbines required for the project will be directly transported from the Port of Aqaba to the site over the coming months, according to a statement issued by Vestas. 

“The first turbines will begin to produce electricity as from the first quarter of 2015, and the wind power plant will be fully operational by August 2015,” the statement said. 

Vestas said the project will provide jobs to “150 people during construction and 30 during its operation”.

Under an agreement, JWPC will sell electricity to the government at a fixed price for the next 20 years after operations start, Judeh said, adding that it will help save millions of dollars for the country.

“Generating 117 megawatts using wind energy will save about $50 million annually, as using heavy fuel and diesel for power generation, which is the current situation, means much higher costs.”

Major financial institutions extended about $221 million in loans for the project, including the International Finance Corporation, the European Investment Bank, Eksport Kredit Fonden, OPEC Fund for International Development, FMO, Europe Arab Bank and Capital Bank.

“This is a demonstration of financing institutions’ strong belief in Jordan’s business climate,” Judeh noted.

In a ceremony late Sunday, Prime Minister Abdullah Ensour attended a ceremony marking the launch of the project.

At the ceremony, Energy Minister Mohammad Hamed said the wind farm is one of several projects Jordan seeks to implement to increase renewable energy’s contribution to the Kingdom’s energy mix to 10 per cent by 2020.

Jordan suffered “tremendously” over the past three years, especially after the repeated cuts in natural gas supplies from Egypt, which increased the country’s energy bill to JD4 billion in 2013, representing about 19 per cent of the country’s gross domestic product, Hamed added.

Energy experts have often called for implementing wind energy projects in the Kingdom, since wind speeds in Jordan are as high as 7.5 metres per second and are up to 11.5 metres per second in hilly areas.

AMMAN — The Ministry of Labour has issued 69,000 work permits over the past month, and 65 per cent of them were for Egyptian guest workers, Labour Minister Nidal Katamine said on Monday.

The permits were issued during an ongoing grace period for illegal guest workers to rectify their situation and renew their documents, according to the ministry, which said that the grace period started on March 16 and ends on May 14.

The ministry collected JD17 million in fees for the work permits, Katamine added in a statement e-mailed to The Jordan Times.

“A total of 50,000 guest workers have benefited from the first phase of the non-retrospective grace period, during which the ministry collected JD12 million. Meanwhile, a total of 16,000 guest workers have so far benefitted from the second phase of the grace period, during which the ministry collected JD5 million,” Katamine said.

He noted that the ministry is planning to adopt a new system for work permits, under which issuance fees will increase at varying rates for certain sectors.

In addition, Katamine announced that the ministry will launch a nationwide crackdown on illegal guest workers in cooperation with security forces on May 18.

“Inspection teams will be increased to 50... they will start work at 8am and finish at 10pm,” he said.

The minister called on employers and workers to benefit from the ongoing grace period to avoid measures that will be taken against violators.

Illegal guest workers who fail to rectify their status during the grace period are sent back to their countries in cooperation with their embassies, according to the ministry.

AMMAN — The first group of Syrians has already arrived at the Azraq Refugee Camp, which will be officially opened on Wednesday, with a capacity of hosting up to 130,000 refugees.

Azraq is the third Syrian refugee camp in Jordan and “probably the biggest planned refugee camp in history”, Andrew Harper, UNHCR representative to Jordan, said on Monday.

“It probably is one of the biggest planned camps, because it’s organised; we have the resources and had 10 months to prepare it,” Harper told The Jordan Times over the phone, noting that in the case of the Zaatari camp, “we only had 10 days to prepare for it.”

“We had to adapt with the influx of Syrians and we didn’t have the resources then,” the UNHCR official explained. The Zaatari camp is currently hosting more than 170,000 refugees, he said.

According to official figures, the number of Syrians registered as refugees in the Kingdom has exceeded 600,000, while there are 750,000 Syrians who were in the country before the civil war erupted in March 2011.

However, the UNHCR is currently working with the Interior Ministry to double check the latest figures, according to Harper.

Noting that around 200 Syrians have already settled in the Azraq camp, he explained that the new arrivals will be transported from the borders to Ribaa Al Sarhan to register and then to Azraq.

“We don’t want to be overwhelmed with Azraq and we need to test services,” he added.

The international community has invested JD45 million in the new camp, located some 100km east of Amman near Azraq town in Zarqa Governorate.

The cost includes roads, infrastructure, shelters, a hospital, water systems, schools and a police station. 

Twenty-one humanitarian agencies have jointly planned the camp, in collaboration with the government.

In a previous statement, Camp Security Director Col. Atef Al Omoush said the swelling number of refugees prompted the construction of the new camp.

“We decided on the location in April last year and we started building the facilities in Azraq in December,” Omoush noted.

“There are four villages inside the camp. Each will be provided with facilities to host between 10,000 to 15,000 refugees,” he added.

The camp’s central 50-bed hospital will be run by the Red Cross, while two double-shift schools will accommodate 10,000 children. A daily supply of 1,500 litres of water will initially be delivered by tanks, pending the drilling of a well inside the camp.

Refugees who found sanctuary in Zaatari will not be relocated to Azraq; only new arrivals who cross into Jordan after the camp opening will be sent to the facility, Brig. Gen. Wadah Hmoud, director of the Syrian Refugees Affairs Directorate, said in previous remarks to the press.

AMMAN — Her Majesty Queen Rania on Monday chaired the National Council for Family Affairs (NCFA) annual board of trustees meeting.

As chairperson of the council, the Queen emphasised the importance of automating national procedures related to family abuse cases and connecting all stakeholders to facilitate referrals, ensure proper follow up and avoid duplication of efforts.

Queen Rania also called for building on previous national accomplishments and projects in the areas of family and childhood protection, which Jordan has put a great effort into building and pioneering in the region, according to a statement from Her Majesty’s office. 

However, many of these projects are not being utilised like the installation of closed-circuit television in juvenile courts in the Kingdom.

Rajai Muasher, vice chairman of the NCFA board, spoke about the importance of utilising the expertise of the board members through the various subcommittees and their roles in making sure the council’s objectives are fully achieved.

NCFA Secretary General Fadel Al Homoud presented an outline of the council’s future plans and development projects which serve NCFA’s strategic goals that aim to strengthen the fabric of Jordanian families, the statement said. 

He said the NCFA will support and follow up on the work of other public and private organisations that work in the same field so as to coordinate between them and maximise the outcomes of their work.

Homoud also explained that the council is in the process of automating family abuse cases, and is about to release a training manual on early childhood programmes. The NCFA will also establish two centres that provide family counselling services.

In addition, the council will work with trainers who will be giving courses on safe Internet usage for families and children.

Moreover, the NCFA will issue a report on the characteristics and conditions of the Jordanian family as well as develop the National Strategic Plan for Family Protection against Family Violence, the National Framework for Family Protection and the National Jordanian Strategy for Senior Citizens.

The council is working to improve services provided to newborns and children under the age of four, as well as standards of nurseries and foster care homes in the country.

Last year, the NCFA issued a foster care guidebook in partnership with the Ministry of Social Development and Save the Children.
The manual, which has been distributed to foster families in the country, tackles the best practices in dealing with foster children until they turn 18, serving as a reference for families and institutions working with foster children.

During Monday’s meeting, board members discussed different issues including the need to build on the capacity of existing family counselling centres and conducting holistic studies on the characteristics of the Jordanian family. 

They also talked about the importance of applying and constantly developing legislation that aims to protect and empower the family unit, as well as increasing the role of religious figures in promoting concepts that would positively affect families in Jordan.

AMMAN — Political parties and their registration will be under the jurisdiction of the Political and Parliamentary Affairs Ministry, after being handled by the Justice Ministry.  

Delivering a lecture at the Jordanian Society for Political Sciences, Minister of Political and Parliamentary Affairs Khaled Kalaldeh said the decision was made upon recommendations received by the technical committee tasked with drawing up the political parties draft law, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported. 

Kalaldeh said the limitations and conditions on partisan activity have been reduced under the proposed 2014 political parties law, including the reduction of the number of founding members from 500 to 150, and their ages from 25 to 18.

He noted that the new political parties law will pave the way for progressive partisan life in Jordan.

For his part, Khaled Shneikat, president of the society, said the new law would be a “qualitative leap in the Kingdom’s political action”, according to Petra. 

AMMAN — Orange Mobile on Sunday criticised a decision by the Telecommunications Regulatory Commission (TRC) to charge it JD156.4 million for renewing its second generation (2G) licence, describing the amount as “unreasonably high”.

Orange Jordan, which recently started talks with the TRC to set a price for renewing its 2G licence, said the TRC sent a letter instructing it to pay a fee of JD156.4 million for the renewal and usage of its 12.5 MHz bandwidth in the 900 MHz spectrum by May 9. 

“Orange Mobile considers this amount to be unreasonably high, by all international standards and benchmarks... which has also been confirmed by Orange’s own comprehensive study that was conducted by PricewaterhouseCoopers,” the company said in a statement sent to The Jordan Times.

The TRC said it contracted a global consultation company to conduct a study before it set the rate for renewing the licence, and that it adopted the results of the study, which took into consideration the current value of these frequencies in the local market.

Orange Mobile’s licence ends May 8, according to a TRC statement e-mailed to The Jordan Times. The commission said the licence will be renewed for the next 15 years.

Citing a 150 per cent rise in electricity prices in 2012 and last year’s increase of the special tax, the Orange Mobile statement said this latest decision by the TRC would have “unbearable consequences” on its “capacity to invest in and develop its mobile and fixed networks, as well as its capacity to acquire 4G/LTE frequencies in the future”.

The TRC has indicated that a failure to pay the fee by May 9 would result in the company’s 2G services being halted, which would affect the telecom services of four million subscribers.

Mobile penetration in Jordan reached 156 per cent at the end of 2013, with 10.3 million subscriptions, according to official figures.

AMMAN — Around 400 teachers, parents and students gathered outside the Cambridge High School premises on Sunday in protest against the Education Ministry’s recent decision to terminate the services of the principal.

The ministry requested that the school lay off Diana Afranji as of last Wednesday following the death of a seven-year-old girl who drowned in the private school’s pool while swimming with her peers.

The ministry has said that the decision had nothing to do with the incident, but was the result of “complaints filed against her by parents”.

“The decision is unfair and illogical, especially since investigations have not yet confirmed the reason behind the student’s death,” Rula Dawood, a mother of two students at the school, told The Jordan Times at the protest.

One schoolteacher, who preferred anonymity, noted that the former principal addresses issues directly and refuses to “beat around the bush”, which is why “many had problems with her”.

Amany Allaf, a mother of four students at the school, agreed, noting that her children have been attending the school for several years and they speak highly of Afranji’s “advice and leadership skills”.

“We are gathering here to demand the return of the principal, whose guidance has helped our children reach this level of discipline, self-confidence and organisation,” she noted.

Allaf added that Afranji’s “strictness” was required to control the behaviour of students, noting that no student “had the guts” to smoke or show any ill-mannered behaviour inside the school.

Students carried banners calling for the reinstatement of Afranji, who has been serving as principal for more than 40 years in public and private schools, including Sukainah Secondary Education School and Ein Jaloot Comprehensive Secondary School — two of the top public girls’ schools in the capital — in addition to the private Amman Academy and Oxford Schools.

“We loved the way she used to run the school and take care of everything, from the school’s hygiene to the way we dress,” an eighth grader at Cambridge said.

Teachers and parents interviewed by The Jordan Times noted that the “war waged against Afranji” is led by parents whose children’s behaviour was “unacceptable” and saw the incident as a good chance to end her strict administration.

Participants at the protest underlined their support for the family of the student who drowned and their “willingness to see the law take its course”.

They also signed a petition to be presented to the ministry in which they urged it to reconsider its decision.

Meanwhile, Farid Khatib, head of the ministry’s private education department, stressed that the ministry’s decision is “final” and that it was based on several factors.

In previous remarks, he said the school had not obtained the required approval for extracurricular activities and the pool, which is now closed, was not licensed.

Khatib added that the Civil Defence Department notified the school several times between the years 2006 and 2012 of the need to submit the pool’s blueprint in order to meet required safety measures for licensing purposes.

The death of the student prompted the Education Ministry to form a committee that includes members of its private education and legal affairs departments to investigate the incident, and present its report to court.

The ministry has given the school a few days to appoint a new principal, Khatib said.