By Khaled Neimat
AMMAN – With almost a million cars expected to enter Kingdom this summer, concerned authorities are gearing up to tackle the challenge.
Both the Greater Amman Municipality (GAM) and the Public Security Department’s (PSD) Traffic Department have drawn up plans to deal with road congestion, officials said on Tuesday.
Khaled Hadadin, director of the GAM traffic department, said the municipality will install 15 new cameras next month in different locations in the capital to monitor any traffic jams.
This is part of a comprehensive plan to reduce the impact of the expected increase in the number of cars in Amman this summer, he added.
“We have already installed three cameras over the past couple of days,” Hadadin said, indicating that GAM is trying to align its plan with traffic police preparations.
“Our plan also entails opening new roads to reduce traffic congestion in certain areas and streets in the capital, and encouraging owners of empty plots of land to turn them into parking lots,” he said.
“However, all these preparations will mean nothing unless residents and visitors cooperate with our teams and with the traffic police,” Hadadin added.
Categories: Asia, Jordan, Middle East
Amman is 1000 m above sea level and consequently is like a ‘mountain resort’ for people of the Gulf. Many Jordanians working in the Gulf come home during the summer months and many Gulf residence come and spend some time here. This year, due to the ‘Arab Summer’ many tourists may hesitate to go to Egypt and of course cannot go to Syria. Many will go to Europe instead but many might come to the calm of Jordan also.