‘Work on Zarqa-Amman BRT project to begin 2016’

AMMAN — The government has allocated JD68 million from the Gulf Cooperation Council grant and the Kuwait Fund for Arab Economic Development to implement the Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) project linking Amman and Zarqa, Transport Minister Lina Shbeeb said Tuesday.

At a meeting with the Lower House Financial Committee, headed by Deputy Yousef Qorneh, Shbeeb said the ministry failed to implement the Amman-Zarqa BRT project and the Shidiyeh link project which were both scheduled to begin in 2014, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported.

She added the ministry did not have any blueprints for the BRT project, noting that they will be ready by April ahead of floating the project’s tenders. 

Shbeeb said work on the project was expected to start at the beginning of 2016, according to Petra.

The delay in implementing the Shidiyeh project, she said, is due to technical problems. 

Work on the project is expected to begin in April 2015, the minister added, according to Petra.

The BRT project entails operating premium, high-capacity buses that can carry more than 120 passengers and will run on a three-minute frequency during peak hours on segregated lanes along the busiest corridors.