AMMAN — The Lower House’s Tourism, Antiquities,
and Public Services Committee, headed by MP Majid Rawashdeh, discussed during
its Tuesday meeting the reality of the transport sector, its challenges and
ways to develop it, and the need to update the legislation governing its
operations.
اضافة اعلان
Rawashdeh stressed the need for a “radical solution”
to all the challenges and problems facing the essential public transport sector
in the Kingdom, which in turn affects many other areas, saying that he
approached the Ministry of Transport several times, but the ministry “showed
its inability to regulate the sector”.
“We, the MPs,
will not abandon this file and will continue to demand” that it be regulated,
he added.
He also said that the failure of the transport
authorities to implement the decisions by virtue of the powers invested in them
reflected negatively on the ministry performance and on the land transport
sector.
In a related issue, according to Rawashdeh, there is
no accurate understanding of the financial resources of the Passenger Transport
Support Fund, “which has complicated its activation”.
The committee called for extending the operational
life of public taxis (yellow taxis), in particular, and of other means of
public transport, in general, depending on the distance covered by these
vehicles and provided that a technical examination is carried out.
Director-General of the Land Transport Regulatory
Authority Tariq Habashneh said that the general strategy for public transport
will be presented to the National Assembly after it is approved by the Council
of Ministers, so that proposals can be submitted to it.
Habashneh said that the Passenger Transport Support
Fund, which was established by law in 2017, will also be activated.
“There is clear damage to the transport sector,
especially in light of the COVID-19 pandemic,” he said, indicating that the
government supported the sector with a financial amount of about JD7 million.
He also pointed out that there are between 30 and 32
unlicensed smart transport applications, with about 40,000 vehicles operating
without any license, which negatively affected the performance of the yellow
taxi, adding that the concerned authorities were asked to “shut them down”.
However, Habashneh acknowledged the difficulty of
shutting them down, as the applications keep changing their access points,
noting that work is under way, in cooperation with the Ministry of Digital
Economy and Entrepreneurship and the Telecommunications Regulatory Commission,
to suspend these smart applications.
Regarding extending the operational life of public
vehicles, Habashneh said that a study will be conducted, and the parliamentary
transport committee will be informed of its results.
Regarding subscription of drivers and transportation
sector workers in the Social Security Corporation, Habashneh said that the move
was taken in order to preserve the life of the insured and to compensate them
in the event of an injury; he stressed, however, that subscription “will be optional”.
The head of the Syndicate
of Owners of Taxi Offices, Ahmad Abu Haidar, said: “The sector’s demands were
not fulfilled despite being raised several years ago with various transport
ministers and directors of authorities, including extending the operating life
of means of public transportation, since the pandemic negatively affected the
owners of these vehicles, and led to them accumulating debts.”
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