AMMAN — The
Ministry of Transport, in coordination with related entities and partners
in the public and private sectors, is currently updating the transport sector
strategy for the years 2022-2027, according to ministry Spokesman Ali Odeibat.
اضافة اعلان
The strategy will be decided upon analyzing the
situation and conditions of the sector, and a package of reforms will be
proposed regarding procedures, initiatives and projects that can advance the
sector, said Odeibat.
Odeibat told
Jordan News that the ministry seeks
to find a mechanism to ensure the complementarity of sector strategies, such as
environment and energy strategies, and those of institutions concerned with the
transport sector, such as the
Ministry of Public Works and Housing and the
Greater Amman Municipality.
He added that “to ensure complementarity in
planning, a steering committee was formed, headed by the prime minister, to
review and develop the national transport sector strategy, with members from
stakeholders, ministries, members of Parliament and senators”.
Odeibat’s statement came after the head of the
Economic and Social Council,
Musa Shteiwi, emphasized, in a press statement on
Monday, that the transport sector faces fundamental challenges that require the
participation of all parties to confront them”.
Shteiwi also said that the sector is of paramount
importance in
encouraging investment, enhancing the economy’s competitiveness,
and achieving safe and affordable transportation that is available to all
citizens.
According to Shteiwi, the transport sector faces
many challenges related to creating an efficient transport system, implementing
major projects, developing the infrastructure, and implementing the concept of
smart transport.
He pointed out that the transport sector is affected
by the regional circumstances, by the import and export of goods and services,
stressing the importance of maintaining the continuity of movement in all its
forms to enhance economic and food security.
Ahmad Abu Haidar, head of the
Syndicate of Owners of Taxi Offices, Internal and External Travel, and Driving Training Centers, told
Jordan
News that one of the more serious problems that the yellow taxi sector
suffers from is lack of regulation regarding the work of unlicensed ridesharing
applications.
Abu Haidar said that drivers have been living though
hard economic conditions since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, and even
before that, adding that the unfair competition with the drivers using
ridesharing applications had left a great negative impact on the taxi drivers.
“I can say that if the situation stays as it is,
many of them will be in debt, and they will lose their jobs.”
Abu Haidar said that the continuous traffic jams
also affect drivers’ work; “some drivers stay in traffic for more than one or
two hours, and for nothing, their expenses are much more than their income”.
He added that
the syndicate’s main demand is to have the work of the existing ridesharing
applications that are operating in the sector regulated, and to secure justice
for
taxi drivers who cannot bear any more losses or further expenses.
Lawrence Al-Rifai, spokesman for ridesharing
companies drivers, told
Jordan News that more than 3,000 drivers are
financially distressed and their vehicles are impounded, adding that “every
time, the Ministry of Transport promises us to find radical solutions to help
the transportation field, but it ends up doing nothing”.
“We demand from the concerned entities to monitor
and regulate the work of some licensed companies. I believe that this is one of
the most important aspects that concerned entities should take into
consideration for the time being to rehabilitate the sector,” Rifai said.
He also said that ridesharing applications and
yellow taxi drivers are being harmed by some ridesharing companies that do not
adhere to the official pricing.
“Those companies are
creating a state of unfair competition, yet neither the commission nor the
ministry has taken any action till now.”
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