AMMAN — The Cabinet on Wednesday decided to cut down fuel allocations for public vehicles by 25 per cent this year to be added to the 25 per cent cut endorsed last year.
The Council of Ministers also decided to accelerate the implementation of a decision it had previously taken to replace public vehicles powered by large engines with more fuel-efficient ones, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported.
The Cabinet tasked the Finance Ministry with delivering quarterly reports on public departments’ abidance by these decisions, while all ministers are scheduled to present plans within a week on how their ministries will implement these procedures.
In addition, the Council of Ministers reviewed the recommendations of the Economic Affairs Committee on installing GPS devices on public vehicles, delegating ICT Minister Azzam Sleit to contact the Royal Jordanian Geographic Centre and examine the possibility of implementing this project in cooperation with the ministries of transport and public works and the General Supplies Department.
Installing GPS tracking devices will help in regulating the usage of public vehicles and save fuel consumption, according to Petra.
The government bought fuel worth almost JD5.4 million for its fleet of cars from gas stations belonging to the Jordan Petroleum Refinery Company (JPRC) during the first nine months of last year, according to JPRC figures.
In remarks to The Jordan Times in November 2013, JPRC CEO Abdel Karim Alaween said the refinery’s gas stations are not the only suppliers of fuel for public sector vehicles, as Total Jordan and Manaseer fuel stations also provide the fleet with 90- and 95-octane gasoline.
Alaween said fuel expenses of government cars during the first three quarters of 2013 saw a 1 per cent drop in terms of value, compared with the JD5.5 million fuel bill between January and September in 2012.
But in terms of quantity in litres, consumption went down by 17 per cent, he noted.
According to the Audit Bureau, there are approximately 20,000 public sector vehicles.
Spending allocations for these vehicles, including fuel and maintenance, exceeded JD83 million in 2011, according to bureau estimates.
Also during Wednesday’s meeting, the Cabinet reviewed the achievements of the Governorates Development Fund between 2011 and 2013 and requested a report from the fund identifying the shortcomings and suggesting methods to redress them by increasing spending on productive projects and supporting the governorates as soon as possible.
