One hundred and one new refuse collection and solid waste management vehicles, financed by the EBRD and the UK Department for International Development (DFID), will make the Jordan capital city Amman cleaner and greener. The vehicles will be handed over to the Greater Amman Municipality (GAM) on October 23rd.
The EBRD investment and DFID’s financial contribution for improving the solid waste management in Amman will alleviate the unprecedented strain the municipality has been facing since the arrival of thousands of Syrian refugees after 2011. The dramatic increase in Amman’s population to almost 5 million far exceeds the capacity of the Ghabawi landfill, the main facility for the capital’s solid waste.
Waste transport and transfer are among GAM’s most pressing issues since the two old waste transfer stations– where waste is transferred to larger vehicles transporting it to the landfill in Ain Al Ghazal and Yarmouk have been decommissioned. Accordingly, collection vehicles are required to travel long distances and staff needs to work additional shifts, through the only available station in Al-Shaer.
The delivery of the new vehicles at King Hussain Gardens will be celebrated under the patronage of the Mayor of Amman, H.E. Youssef Shawarbeh, and in the presence of the British Ambassador to Jordan, H.E. Edward Oakden and EBRD associate banker Khalil Masri.
The new fleet consists of waste compactors and roll-on and roll-off waste collecting vehicles, which will work simultaneously with older vehicles. The investment will improve the waste collection and optimize the city’s overall solid waste management system. The new vehicles will allow GAM to hire new drivers to manage shorter shifts under improved working conditions.
To date, EBRD has provided Din 67 million (€82 million equivalent) in loans to the city alone and by working with other donors, including the United Kingdom, the European Union, the EBRD’s Southern and Eastern Mediterranean Multi-Donor Account (SEMED MDA and TaiwanICDF, who have extended an additional Din 19 million in grants.
Original source: EBRD
Published on 23 October 2018
