Petra
The Council of Ministers decided in its session held, headed by Prime Minister Dr. Bisher Al-Khasawneh, to approve the extension of financial support provided by the government to public transport operators on passenger lines and taxis for the next three months (April, May, June). ) and a total cost of 5 million and 854 thousand and 770 dinars through the budgets of ministries and government departments.
The decision aims to support public transport modes to face the repercussions of high fuel prices on transport sector wages, reduce costs for operators, and avoid the repercussions of fuel prices on citizens, thus contributing to alleviating their financial burdens with the advent of the holy month of Ramadan.
On the other hand, the Council of Ministers agreed to renew the implementation of its previous decision related to the exemptions granted to specialized tourist transport vehicles and to grant specialized tourist transport companies a period of one year to correct their conditions for buses of the 2006 model and above.
The decision comes in view of the record numbers recorded by the Kingdom in terms of the number of tourists during the months of January and February of this year compared to previous years, although it is not considered one of the peak tourist months, which indicates the expected large number of tourists in the coming seasons.
In order for the specialized tourism transport companies to benefit from these exemptions, the Council of Ministers instructed the Land Transport Regulatory Authority to submit a draft system amending the specialized tourism transport licensing system No. 82 of 2012 and its amendments for the year 2019 to the Council of Ministers in preparation for its issuance in accordance with the legal principles followed, while giving it the status of urgency.
The decision to amend the system comes due to the importance of the specialized tourism transport sector in the tourism product system and with the aim of filling the large demand for specialized tourist transport buses, in addition to the importance of providing transport services with a high level of quality by buses that provide comfort and safety for tourist groups and the fact that tourism offices did not benefit from the decision of the previous Council of Ministers Regarding exemptions for tourist transportation in light of the decision coinciding with the Corona pandemic.
It also comes that the amended system for the specialized tourist transport licensing system for the year 2019 has reduced the operational life of buses, so that the operational life of tourist buses has become 12 years, and for medium tourist buses 10 years from the year of manufacture, which means that about 300 operating buses are out of service during the current year 2023, which constitutes a percentage of Almost 50 percent of the total number of buses of specialized tourist transport companies.
In addition, the Council of Ministers decided to approve the reasons for a draft system amending the passport system for the year 2023 in preparation for sending it to the Legislation and Opinion Bureau to complete the procedures for issuing it in accordance with the rules.
The amendment aims to enhance the chances of attracting investors to establish projects for the purposes of obtaining Jordanian citizenship.
The Council decided to approve the appointment of Dr. Nidal Ayoub Abu Orabi as Secretary General of the Ministry of Local Administration for Administrative and Financial Affairs.
The Council also decided to approve the amendment of the job title of the current Secretary-General of the Ministry, Eng. Hussein Muhaidat, to become the Secretary-General of the Ministry for Technical Affairs.
It is noteworthy that, according to the administrative organization system of the Ministry of Local Administration for the year 2023, two positions of Secretary-General of the Ministry were created, one for technical affairs and the other as Secretary-General for Administrative and Financial Affairs.