Amman, January 22 - The Senate Public Services Committee, headed by Senator Dr. Mustafa Al-Hamrneh, followed up on Wednesday with Minister of Public Works and Housing, Eng. Maher Abu Al-Samen, the work plans of the ministry and its affiliated departments.
This came during the committee's meeting attended by Acting Secretary-General of the Ministry of Public Works, Eng. Jamal Qteishat, Director-General of the Public Corporation for Housing and Urban Development, Eng. Jumana Al-Attiyat, Director-General of the Government Tenders Department, Eng. Mahmoud Khalifat, and a number of relevant directors in the ministry.
Senator Al-Hamrneh said that the public works sector constitutes 5 percent of the gross domestic product, according to the Department of Statistics, indicating the importance of the sector as a major employer of more than 150 supporting professions, and employs tens of thousands, most of whom are Jordanian workers.
He pointed out that the ministry's strategic plan came to improve the quality of government services provided to citizens by addressing various challenges, through implementing and evaluating the ministry's executive plan, which it relied on in implementing Jordan's Vision 2025.
Al-Hamrneh explained that the meetings held by the committee periodically with the ministry and dealing with its supervisory capacity and specified by a time frame, to follow up on the ministry's strategic plan for the years 2021-2025, the reform matrix prepared by the Ministry of Public Works, and the strategic plan of the General Corporation for Housing and Urban Development.
For his part, Abu Al-Saman said that the ministry's message is to connect cities, villages, population and economic communities and neighboring countries with a network of safe and distinguished roads with a high level of quality and to maintain their sustainability and raise the level of traffic safety on them.
He indicated that the ministry is constantly working to develop the construction sector, using and applying the best practices and modern technologies that keep pace with global developments and creating pioneering government buildings that support national and development goals, ensuring the lives and safety of employees, customers and visitors by adopting and implementing the best international methods.
In turn, Eng. Al-Qtaishat said that the ministry's work priorities during the years 2024-2026 within the new strategy and plans are represented in rehabilitating, maintaining and sustaining the road network in the Kingdom, implementing and maintaining agricultural and rural roads to serve production sites, and providing traffic safety standards on the roads.
It also represents completing the road network construction program to contribute to achieving development, increasing the number of buildings that meet service and economic standards, and improving the performance of border centers and crossings to provide services within international standards.
Al-Qtaishat stressed the ministry's keenness to align its strategy with the outcomes of the Economic Modernization Vision, by achieving excellence in service sectors, with the aim of supporting national development and increasing service exports at the regional and global levels.
For her part, Eng. Al-Attiyat presented the challenges facing the General Corporation for Housing and Urban Development, most notably the high prices of land, the lack of suitable treasury lands for establishing housing projects, the high interest rate, the reluctance of some banks to provide credit facilities to the target segment, the high inflation rate, the high prices of raw materials and the high cost of labor in construction.