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AMMAN — New water and wastewater projects will be implemented in Baqaa Refugee Camp and Ain Al Basha to improve health and environment conditions, government officials said on Sunday.

Under an agreement signed by Water Authority of Jordan Secretary General Tawfik Habashneh and Oxfam Humanitarian Programme Manager Francesco Rigamonti, the projects are scheduled to be completed within three months.

“The projects will be implemented at a cost of $100,000. They include rehabilitation of water networks to reduce leakage, enhancing water supply, training personnel, raising public awareness and purchasing several pieces of equipment,” Habashneh said in a statement e-mailed to The Jordan Times.

Located 13km north of Amman, the Baqaa camp hosts 104,000 registered Palestinian refugees, while Ain Al Basha has a population of more than 80,000 people.

Habashneh added that the projects also seek to improve water supply in the two areas, which have a growing population due to the ongoing influx of Syrian refugees, especially into the northern region.

Water Ministry Spokesperson Omar Salameh told The Jordan Times that the projects are scheduled to be completed before summer starts, underscoring that demand exceeds supply due to limited resources and rising population.

Official figures indicate that the country’s water sector needs $750 million during the next three years to meet the rising demand, aggravated by the continuous influx of Syrian refugees.

Water demand rose by 20 per cent due to hosting hundreds of thousands of Syrians, according to the ministry, which indicated that during the past year, the water sector received $107 million in grants to sustain services in communities hosting refugees, particularly in the northern region.

Since the outbreak of the crisis in Syria, the number of refugees has reached 587,404, with 135,720 of them living in camps.

Over 70 per cent of the Syrian refugees in Jordan live amongst host communities, while the rest are accommodated at the Zaatari Refugee Camp in Mafraq Governorate and the Mreijeb Al Fhoud Camp in Zarqa Governorate.

AMMAN — Revenues of the country’s telecom sector have dropped by 9 per cent since the government increased taxes on cellular phones and mobile subscriptions, a representative of the sector said on Sunday.

Umniah CEO Ihab Hinnawi said a study conducted by the country’s mobile operators showed that since the extra tax was imposed on mobile calls and services, revenues dropped by 9 per cent, while profits declined by between 30 per cent and 40 per cent.

In July last year, the government increased the special tax imposed on mobile phones from 8 per cent to 16 per cent, and the tax on mobile subscriptions — both prepaid and post-paid — from 12 per cent to 24 per cent.

This decision was criticised by the three mobile operators in the Kingdom, who said at the time that it would affect revenues.

According to Hinnawi, the government formed a committee last month to study the impact of this decision on the sector and requested that industry representatives prepare a study showing the gap in revenues.

The three telecom operators — Umniah, Zain Jordan and Orange Jordan — said they paid about JD40.5 million in income tax, JD40.4 million in revenue-sharing fees and JD18.4 million in frequency fees in 2012.

The telecom sector contributes 14 per cent to the gross domestic product annually and employs more than 60,000 persons.

Hinnawi made the remarks at a press conference on Sunday, where Umniah, which has a 32 per cent share of the Jordanian market, announced an agreement with Wataniya Palestine to provide calling and mobile roaming services to customers of the two companies.

The partnership, he said, will give Umniah subscribers the opportunity to connect with individuals subscribed to Wataniya Palestine at competitive prices.

Hinnawi explained that customers can receive calls at no charge and make calls at affordable rates while roaming in Palestine.

Fayez Husseini, the CEO of Wataniya Mobile, said the market share of his company in the West Bank is 35 per cent, and the company will soon enter the Gaza market.