Khaberni - Haitham Juwainat, the chairman of the Madaba Large Municipality Committee, stated that the municipality has identified 13 hotspots for handling heavy rainfall within its boundaries and the required measures to address them, with an estimated cost of three million dinars.
He added that addressing these hotspots would transform Madaba’s Large Municipality into a city capable of dealing with high volumes of rainfall like those experienced recently. He pointed out that a technical committee from the Madaba Large Municipality has prepared a report with comprehensive plans for addressing infrastructure issues this year, provided that necessary funding is available.
The report focuses on installing additional culverts, manholes, building box and pipe culverts, deepening stream channels, implementing rainwater drainage lines, and acquiring large machinery to open and deepen the valley and increase the number of manholes in the city.
He explained that for the past 20 years, the municipality has not implemented bids for constructing culverts, sidewalks, and fences to prevent landslides in the winter, besides the small size of the existing culverts. Furthermore, there are no buffer zones for the valleys, which have been regulated for housing, causing homes to be built within them.
He indicated that the municipality has implemented immediate and urgent measures to address the damages caused by the large amounts of rainfall, including issuing instructions to prevent housing construction in stream channels, stopping encroachments on them, and working on their expansion and deepening. The municipality will need to expropriate some buildings, specifically 5 houses built on the valleys, to evacuate their inhabitants.
Furthermore, he noted that the municipality conducted immediate maintenance and patching of some streets severely affected by the rainfall to mitigate damage. An asphalt mix will be implemented on several streets that need it due to wear and tear.
Juwainat confirmed that the municipality began assessing the sites affected by the rain, prepared studies to solve these problems through solicitation of bids and offers, and began widening small water drainage culverts to accommodate large amounts of water.
He mentioned that the municipality collaborated with contractors to rent heavy machinery to clean and deepen the main valley channels, and to rent tanks and water pumps to handle any emergencies.
