The Cabinet on Sunday discussed power outages in Amman and some other cities during the recent depression.
In the meeting chaired by Prime Minister, the cabinet tackled causes for the long period of power outage in some locations, and the poor response to restore electricity to thousands of subscribers, within the jurisdiction of the Jordan Electric Power Company (JEPCO).
In this regard, the Prime Minister said that the power outage for long hours, sometimes reaching 36 hours citizens had suffered from, won’t be tolerated.
He indicated that the government-owned National Electric Power Company (NEPCO) wasn’t responsible for this defect, but it is the government’s duty and responsibility to intervene, especially in light of the long periods of power outages and the suffering of many citizens from this problem, which “is something that can’t be overlooked or accepted.”
The Cabinet mandated Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources, Saleh Kharabsheh, to form an independent investigation committee immediately to determine causes and details of the power outage, provided that the committee completes its investigation and presents its recommendations within three weeks at the latest, in order to determine accountabilities and shortcomings – if any – and to take administrative and legal actions against delinquents according to legal guarantees and responsibility.
The Council of Ministers also decided to assign a consulting firm to assess the status of the electricity network in various regions of the Kingdom, especially in Amman, and upgrade it as well as setting standards for evaluating the performance of electricity distribution companies as per international standards in order to have the ability to held it accountable according to this performance and in accordance with the agreed standards.
On a related matter, the Council of Ministers decided to assign relevant ministries and institutions to conduct a comprehensive survey of trees that were entangled with electricity towers and wires inside cities and to handle them, in order to avoid recurring of power outages in some areas if affected by weather conditions.
The premier said that the power outages “distorted the image of the efficient and high-level performance” of all state and government institutions, in addition to the individual and voluntary efforts and efforts of the private sector that were made during the weather conditions.
Source: Jordan News Agency