Princess Sumaya calls for assessing building safety risks, increasing inspection campaigns

AMMAN — HRH Princess Sumaya, head of the Royal Scientific Society (RSS) and member of the Jordan National Building Council (JNBC), on Sunday stressed the importance of evaluating existing buildings through intensifying inspection campaigns to ensure their construction safety with the participation of all stakeholders.

During a JNBC meeting, Princess Sumaya suggested classifying buildings in terms of risk levels and looking for ways to renovate them and ensure safety requirements in these buildings, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported.

Attendees of the meeting also discussed issues related to the housing and construction sector and means to develop engineering laws regulating the sector.

The council called on all stakeholders not to allow extensions or alterations to existing buildings unless through conducting engineering studies prepared as per engineering codes.

Minister of Public Works and Housing and JNBC Chairman Yahya Kisbi and members of the council expressed their condolences to the families of Jabal Luwiebdeh building collapse victims.

He said that the council, upon the collapse of the building, directed the higher construction committee to offer necessary technical support to stakeholders, stressing the importance of applying public safety measures and engineering codes to ensure quality, efficiency and public safety in construction projects. 

The council also reviewed the outcomes of field visits by inspection committees to projects nationwide, where the teams toured 1,420 projects and stopped the implementation of 765 projects and rectified 535, while 230 projects are pending rectifying steps.