LTRC building handling yards at Omari crossing to facilitate safe import of goods via trucks

AMMAN — Acting Director General of the Land Transport Regulatory Commission (LTRC) Salah Lawzi on Friday said that the government has begun preparing the infrastructure for the establishment of “back-to-back” handling yards at the Omari border-crossing between Jordan and Saudi Arabia at a cost of JD5 million.

The yards will be ready within three weeks, at the end of May, Lawzi said.

In a statement carried by the Jordan News Agency, Petra, the director general noted that the handling yards will cover an area of ​​about 50 dunums inside the Omari Border Centre and will be equipped with ramps and the handling equipment necessary to enable freight drivers to bring their goods into the Kingdom according to specific procedures that allow them to stay at the border.

Lawzi said that the truck drivers have been provided with temporary shelters in military schools in the Azraq region until the establishment of specific shelter camps for them.

The drivers will be housed in these shelters after they receive testing each time they enter Jordan. Following their entry, they will deliver their trucks to other drivers from inside the Kingdom to unload their cargo at the intended destinations.

The original driver of each truck will stay at the shelters until his truck returns to the Omari border-crossing, after which he will be escorted by security personnel to the border-crossing to take his truck and leave Jordan to Saudi Arabia.

Lawzi noted that if truck drivers inside the Kingdom wish to return to their families, they will be transferred to quarantine caravans in the Dead Sea area. After the quarantine period, they will be allowed to return to their homes.