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Lower House approves Senate’s version of energy commission bill

By JT - Feb 19,2017 - Last updated at Feb 19,2017

Lawmakers attend a Lower House session on Monday (Petra photo)

AMMAN — The Lower House on Sunday endorsed the Senate’s version of the 2015 draft law of the Energy and Minerals Regulatory Commission (EMRC), after previously refusing the senators’ changes, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported.

The Upper House, earlier this month, had insisted on its version of the draft law and sent it back to the Lower House.

The bill, according to its mandating reasons, follows the renaming of the electricity sector regulatory commission as EMRC.

It also aims to identify the commission’s goals, tasks, legal specialisation and authority, as well as to form a board of commissioners.

Also during the session, the House endorsed the draft consumer protection law.

The consumer protection law stipulates the establishment of a council for consumer protection at the Ministry of Industry and Trade, which will be tasked with suggesting polices and coordinating with the related agencies.

At the beginning of Sunday’s session, Reform Bloc MPs withdrew from the meeting, protesting House Speaker Atef Tarawneh’s refusal to continue the previous session’s schedule, which discussed the government’s decision to raise prices.

On the withdrawal, Tarawneh said that the bloc’s members agreed to leave before the session had started, noting that discussions of price rises were adjourned to allow more time for the concerned committee to study the issue and provide recommendations.

Lower House First Deputy Speaker Khamis Atiyeh urged the committee to present the recommendations within 10 days to schedule a special session for discussing the price hikes.

During the evening session, the Lower House referred the case of purchasing Royal Jordanian (RJ) stocks, which took place under the previous government, to the House’s services and transport committee to study it, Petra reported. 

During the session, 35 MPs took the podium, criticising the government’s deal with investor Najeeb Mikati, under which the government agreed to buy his shares at the end of 2017 at a price of JD1.80 per share although the price at the Amman Stock Exchange is JD0.40.

The MPs also called for scrapping the government’s decision, stressing the need to restructure RJ and investigate suspected corruption files in the company to refer them to the prosecutor. 

But these demands did not receive enough votes to be also referred to the House committee. 

For his part, Prime Minister Hani Mulki said the government is ready to present all the documents and information it has to the committee assigned to study the share buying case.

 

The government sold 70.3 per cent of its stocks in RJ to local and foreign investors in late 2007, making it the first Arab airline to be privatised, Petra reported. 

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