Jordanian contractors ready to help rebuild Syria

AMMAN — The Jordanian Construction Contractors Association (JCCA) on Monday expressed willingness to participate in rebuilding Syria. 

At a meeting with a World Bank (WB) delegation, the association called for easy conditions on tenders funded by the bank, so as to enable more Jordanian contractors to take part in implementing Syria reconstruction schemes. 

JCCA’s representatives Abdullah Khalifeh and Abbad Isbitan said Jordanian contractors are best qualified for the job, due to the geographical closeness between Amman and Damascus, historical harmony between the Jordanian and Syrian peoples and the availability of Syrian workforce in the Kingdom.

Khalifeh noted that some 95 per cent of Jordanian construction companies cannot participate in tenders funded by the bank and the United States Assistance International Development   because of the difficult rehabilitation terms.

Head of the World Bank delegation, Alan Moody, presented a proposal to manufacture reconstruction equipment and to store them, to ensure full readiness to implement projects once security conditions are restored in Syria.

Also on Monday, the JCCA council called on the government to amend the 2015 tax disclosures, file, document and profit rate by-law, according to association vice-president Ahmad Yakub.

Yakub called for abiding by contracts signed with the state and business owners through keeping the tax rate on projects whose offers were filed before January 1, 2015 at 1.4 per cent, especially that the deadline for presenting tax statements is April 30.

In this regard, he said the state does not have the right to issue laws that would exempt it from its legal responsibility.

The council criticised an Income and Sales Tax Department decision stipulating calculating a 10 per cent rate of net profit from revenues for projects the sector won their tenders or started implementing earlier than January 1, 2015, and condemned increasing the income tax on such schemes from 1.4 to 2 per cent. 

He noted that the instability of laws confuses contractors, business owners and investors, in addition to delaying the accomplishment of projects at their due times, and contributing to losing local and foreign investments.

Yakub also said that facilities and incentives given to foreign contractors are better than those granted to local counterparts, which encourages foreign investments on the expense of local one, resulting in the migration of local investors to Egypt and the United Arab Emirates.