Zarqa Municipality struggles with refugee burden

AMMAN – Zarqa Mayor Emad Momani on Saturday called on international donors to help the heavily populated city deal with the influx of Syrian refugees. 

In a phone interview with The Jordan Times, Momani said that there are over 100,000 Syrians residing in Zarqa, which has put additional burdens on the already stagnant financial resources of the municipality as well as on the services provided to residents. 

Zarqa is one of Jordan’s most populated cities, according to Momani. The city’s population is estimated at one million, out of a total population of more than seven million.

“Spending on services has gone up sharply due to the influx of Syrians and the municipality’s vehicles work three shifts to meet rising demand for services, particularly sanitation,” he added. 

Challenges 

Momani cited environmental issues as the most pressing challenge for the city of Zarqa, 23 kilometres northeast of Amman, adding that the municipality, however, was able to improve the cleanliness in the streets of the city in four months. 

“Residents have started to see a cleaner city,” he said, adding that the municipality still has more work to do to boost sanitation services there. 

Residents’ lack of confidence in municipal councils is also another challenge for the council –– elected in August last year, he noted.        

People have lost confidence in previous municipal officials not only in Zarqa but across the country, according to Momani, who said that the current council is working to bridge the gap between residents and city officials through improving the services offered to them and through meetings staged to listen to their demands. 

“People need to see better services and a cleaner city to regain their confidence,” he added. 

Momani highlighted that “poor” infrastructure is another obstacle facing the development of Zarqa, indicating that the municipality had removed pavements of many roads and will float tenders as of May worth JD8 million to pave main and side streets in the city.  

Debt burden 

The mayor pointed out that the municipality’s debt is estimated at JD18 million and that the council has carried out certain measures to improve its financial status, for example, through better tax collection procedures from residents and commercial outlets, who all owe the municipality around JD12 million in unpaid taxes and fees. 

“Revenues from the collection have already started to pick up,” he noted, adding that the municipality has plans to carry out several investment schemes to generate more revenues. 

The schemes include establishing an estate handicraft works, commercial complexes, autobus service and a green market. 

“We have plans to implement over 20 investment projects,” Momani added. 

Excess employment 

According to the mayor, the number of employees at Zarqa Municipality is around 4,200. Most of the city’s budget goes to pay their salaries. 

The current municipal council has “inherited” this large number of workers and cannot lay off any of them, he said. 

The priority is to boost their productivity by telling them that serving the people is the criterion to keep their jobs, Momani added. 

He said that he and his electoral list won last year’s election not through tribal coalitions but instead through an election programme based on enhancing services in Zarqa that gained the confidence of the majority of voters. 

However, he and the municipal council still face some problems due to “campaigns” launched by rivals, “who believe they own the city”.