Higher Steering Committee Approves Electricity Projects for Rural Areas

The Higher Steering Committee for Rural Fils, during a meeting chaired by the Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources, Saleh Kharabsheh, approved lists of homes and sites benefiting from rural fils, with a total of 292 sites and homes benefiting from last June, at a cost amounting to JD1.9 million. According to the committee, electricity was delivered through regular networks to about 273 homes and locations at a total cost of JD1.76 million, in addition to installing solar cell systems connected to the network for 9 homes for poor families and beneficiaries of the National Aid Fund at a cost of JD19,000. Kharabsheh said in a statement that the committee approved a group of projects and sites to which electricity will be delivered at the expense of the rural fils, and they include population centers and economic activities after the expansion of this service according to amendments to the foundations of delivering electricity at the expense of the rural fils. For his part, the Director of the Directorate of Electricity and Rural Electrification in the ministry, Hisham Momani, said that the decisions include population centers consisting of 5 houses outside the regulatory boundaries at a total cost of JD160,000, and population centers consisting of 3 houses outside the regulation boundaries at a minimum at a cost of JD201,000, in addition to individual homes located outside the organization's boundaries and benefiting from existing networks, at a cost of JD64,000. Momani stated that poor families with limited income were supported through a segment of family homes located within the regulatory boundaries in the electricity companies' concession areas at a cost of JD13,000. He pointed out that the list of rural penny support included a segment of projects that included poultry, cows, sheep, and fish farms within areas of poverty pockets outside the organization, where the total value of the projects implemented at the rural penny expense amounted to JD143,000, out of the ministry's belief in the importance of its role in supporting farmers, encouraging livestock, and enhancing self-reliance. The categories approved within the decisions of the Higher Steering Committee for Rural Fils include lighting the roads leading to the cemeteries at a cost of JD133,000. Momani explained that rural fils contributed to supporting productive, industrial and investment projects located in areas of poverty pockets and outside the regulatory boundaries of the approved foundations for rural fils, provided that they provide job opportunities for Jordanians residing in the project area and support the local community, as the contribution of rural fils to these projects amounted to about JD204,000. He pointed out that the target groups for supporting rural poverty included farms containing artesian wells located outside the organization, at a cost of JD60,000, to support farmers and the agricultural sector and contribute to achieving food security, in addition to delivering electricity to projects related to government sectors and a gricultural and charitable cooperative societies, as the total cost amounted to JD82,000. He pointed out that the rural fils contributed to raising the capabilities of the conversion stations established at the expense of the fils during the last ten years for the purposes of addressing the weakness in the electrical current and reducing electrical losses at a financial cost of JD15,000. The committee also approved the installation of solar cell systems connected to the network for 19 homes belonging to needy families and beneficiaries of the National Aid Fund, to reduce the monthly energy bill for this group, which contributes indirectly to increasing the monthly financial income of this group and improving their economic level. Source: Jordan News Agency