AMMAN — Residents of
Maan Governorate continue to
demand that Maan’s water not be privatized by linking it to the Aqaba Water
Company, 10 days after their initial demand, to which they did not receive any
response, despite having met in Amman with Secretary-General of the Ministry of
Water Jihad Al-Mahamid.
اضافة اعلان
“We will march from the various areas of Maan toward
the Aqaba Water Company, and if our demands are not met, we will set up a
sit-in tent there,” said Anas Abu Karaki, member of the Coordinating Committee
for the people of Maan Governorate.
Karaki said that 18 Maan Committee members and eight
MPs were at the meeting, and they all expressed their rejection of the
government’s project after hearing justifications like improved level and speed
of service.
Immediately after
the meeting, there was a phone call from the ministry to the workers of the
Aqaba Water Company in Maan, requesting them to stop the project and leave work
immediately. However, “we were surprised the next morning that the company’s
employees had returned to work and that the suspension order had been
rescinded.”
Karaki added that the residents of Maan have so far
staged two protests since then, and that next Friday there will be a large
march, starting from the big Mosque of Maan towards the Aqaba Water Company,
with the same demands being made.
Maan Governorate MP Mahmoud Alfarajat told
Jordan
News that the meeting with the secretary-general of the Water Ministry was
at the request of the people of Maan and that most people reject this project
because they believe that it may be an indirect way to privatize Maan water,
and that it should be better and more appropriate that improvements be made to
the Water Authority itself.
Alfarajat said that if the Aqaba Water Company will
improve and develop for the citizens’ benefit, he supports this step. Still,
the government needs to prove to the people of Maan that they will receive the
best service. If, however, the project is of no benefit, he will take the side of
the residents of Maan.
He also said that the job of an MP is to pressure
the government and that the matter was raised in all official meetings and will
not be ignored until the citizen’s rights are fully realized.
In an interview with
Water Ministry spokesperson
Omar Salameh, he said that the ministry listened to the opinion of the people
of Maan, that the matter is still not settled, and that the government will
eventually issue a decision that will serve the interests of the citizens.
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