ACC issues precautionary winter instructions for downtown traders

AMMAN — The Amman Chamber of Commerce (ACC) advised merchants in downtown Amman to get insurance that covers natural disasters like floods, fires and earthquakes for their shops, in a bulletin distributed on Monday.

The ACC circulated its “guidance and awareness” instructions to traders in lieu of the upcoming winter season, with the aim of preserving lives and properties and avoiding accidents that may result in financial losses.

ACC President Khalil Hajj Tawfiq said that the chamber prepared the instructions after considering the flash floods last winter that damaged some shops in downtown Amman, where the chamber found some missing public safety measures, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported.   

In mid-August, the Greater Amman Municipality (GAM) and the ACC pledged to reimburse the traders with a total of JD3 million, JD2 million of which would be supplied by GAM, and the remaining amount by the ACC.

In March, heavy rain flooded downtown Amman and caused “extensive damage”, prompting citizens to express their frustration over the country’s “poor” infrastructure.

At the time of the incident, GAM said that “unprecedented” rainfall had led to soil erosion in the capital’s Jabal Al Joufeh area and manhole closures in Quraish Street in downtown Amman.

In its instructions, the ACC called on traders not to store their merchandise in warehouses whose levels are below the level of streets and to avoid storing large amounts of goods in basements. 

The chamber also urged downtown Amman traders to raise the level of the doorsteps to their shops to guarantee that water would not enter their property, according to Petra.