Amman, July 6 (Petra) – The Cabinet received a briefing from the Minister of Local Administration, Walid Masri, on the status of municipalities and the Cities and Villages Development Bank.

The briefing aimed to assess the current situation and explore potential solutions, particularly concerning financial challenges, governance and performance enhancement.

In the briefing, Masri disclosed that in 2024, salaries accounted for 113% of the total government transfers allocated to municipalities from the general budget, representing 70% of municipalities' total revenues, including self-generated income and government transfers.

He noted that municipalities and service councils generated total revenues of JD 340 million last year, with self-revenues constituting 36% of this amount.

He reported that the Ministry of Local Administration conducted 16 random quality control inspections of tenders executed by municipalities last year, in cooperation with the Ministry of Public Works and Housing and the Royal Scientific Society.

Only five tenders, valued at JD 2.5 million, met the required specifications, while 11 tenders, valued at JD 8.1 million, were found non-compliant. Masri indicated that nearly half of the non-compliant tenders were entirely rejected.

Legal action has been initiated in coordination with the Audit Bureau, and quality inspections are ongoing.

He highlighted that municipal debts and dues exceed JD 632 million, with an additional JD 55 million in uncollected debts owed by municipalities to other entities.

The Minister presented work plans and initiatives aimed at enhancing public services through increased automation, improved procedures, cost reduction and consumption rationalisation.

He discussed efforts to strengthen the financial stability and governance of the Cities and Villages Development Bank to enable it to better serve its role.

In other decisions, the Cabinet approved the rehabilitation and paving of roads leading to the new Princess Basma Hospital in Irbid and allocated the necessary funds to facilitate access to the hospital once it becomes operational.

The measure aligns with the Prime Minister's directives following his visit to the hospital last May, emphasising the importance of completing work swiftly to enable the hospital to begin serving people next September.

The Prime Minister stressed the need for intensive efforts to rehabilitate and improve access roads.

The Cabinet approved a memorandum of understanding between the National Centre for Epidemic and Communicable Disease Control and the Henry Ford Health Foundation.

The agreement aims to foster cooperation on research and public health projects, facilitate educational and training exchanges, explore joint activities of mutual benefit and leverage scientific expertise.

The Cabinet appointed Abdel Halim Dougan as Secretary-General of the Ministry of Labour, following his achievement of the highest marks in a competitive examination conducted under the Government Leadership System.

//Petra// AK

06/07/2025 19:53:02