Jordan Minister of Public Works and Housing visits road maintenance works taking place under ILO project
The works are part of an ILO project which works to improve the living conditions of Syrian refugees and Jordanians through increased employment and improved infrastructure.
IRBID/MAFRAQ, Jordan (ILO News) - Jordan’s Minister of Public Works and Housing Sami Halasa visited five sites where road maintenance works are taking place under the ILO’s project “Employment through Labour Intensive Infrastructure in Jordan.”
The project, funded by the German Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development through the German Development Bank (KfW), supports the Government of Jordan in creating immediate jobs through Employment Intensive Investment Programmes (EIIP) in the governorates of Irbid and Mafraq, for both Syrian women and men refugees and their host communities, while also improving local infrastructures.
As part of the project, the Ministry has recently signed 14 contract packages in Irbid and Mafraq to maintain 660 kilometres of road network, and create about 83,400 working days over four months.
Minister Halasa explained that the maintenance works underway include activities such as clearing debris, building roadside support structures and drainage systems, as well as surface maintenance.
Minister Halasa stressed the importance of the road-maintenance initiative in creating jobs and providing a source of income for over 800 unskilled workers for the duration of the initiative.
Minister Sami Halasa (centre) during a visit to a road maintenance site.During the field tour, the Minister explained that the implementation of the project’s various activities in Irbid and Mafraq are supervised by the Ministry’s technical team, which includes managers and engineers. The ILO project team is responsible for monitoring and providing technical support for all project activities.
Minister Halasa added that the Ministry considers the current road maintenance initiative a pilot project, and if successful, the Ministry will issue similar tenders for road maintenance projects that will also employ the EIIP method.
The “Employment through Labour Intensive Infrastructure in Jordan” project, which runs until 30 September, will construct, renovate and maintain a number of assets such as roads, schools and agricultural land for the sustainable benefit of the community, creating 350,000 working days.
