Khaberni - Minister of Public Works and Housing Maher Abu Al-Samn chaired in his office on Thursday a meeting to discuss ways to address the damages caused by the weather depressions on the agricultural roads in the Madaba Governorate, within the jurisdiction of the Jordan Valley Authority, with the presence of MP Samer Al-Azaideh, the Secretary-General of the Jordan Valley Authority Hisham Al-Hayseh, and the acting Secretary-General for Technical Affairs of the ministry, Waseem Al-Adwan,
During the meeting, Abu Al-Samn directed the formation of a joint technical committee comprising experts from the ministry and the Jordan Valley Authority to provide full engineering support to the authority by preparing the necessary technical studies, assessing damages, estimating costs, and finding permanent solutions for roads within its jurisdiction to overcome the technical and financial challenges currently faced by the authority.
Abu Al-Samn confirmed during the meeting that this direction is in support of the authority and the Jordan Valley, aiding them technically and engineeringly on roads within their jurisdiction to enhance the hydraulic and technical collaboration between official institutions. The committee will conduct field investigations on the roads of Ain Musa, Ain Al-Dhib, Zarqa Ma'in, Jamalia, and Southern Hamra, identifying the top priorities for implementation.
He also directed the Roads Administration and Madaba Public Works Directorate to provide direct technical support to the authority to temporarily and urgently open roads to serve farmers and facilitate their access to their farms until permanent solutions are completed and the necessary financial allocations are secured through contacting the Prime Minister's Office with the results of the joint committee's work and the Cabinet's decisions on identifying executing agencies in accordance with the provisions of the Roads Law.
For his part, MP Samer Al-Azaideh mentioned the strategic importance of these roads in supporting the agricultural sector in Madaba and the necessity of ending the overlapping jurisdictions that had previously hindered work, appreciating the Ministry of Public Works' response in providing the necessary engineering expertise to support the Jordan Valley Authority in this vital file.
In turn, Hisham Al-Hayseh, the Secretary-General of the Jordan Valley Authority, stated that relying on the technical expertise of the Ministry of Public Works in preparing the engineering studies would speed up the pace of achievement and overcome the shortage of operational staff and the budgets required to rehabilitate the vast agricultural areas that fall under the authority’s responsibility according to the opinion of the Legislation Bureau and the prevailing Roads Law.
He added that the authority will start procedures to secure materials and machinery to address a number of sites urgently and that the Public Works staff will identify the needs and supervise the work, emphasizing that despite the authority’s responsibility for these roads, it lacks the staff and expertise to assess the needs and supervise the work.
