AMMAN, Aug. 15 (Petra) -- The revised draft of the Local Administration Law significantly expands the executive and developmental authorities of municipal mayors, introducing a comprehensive framework designed to modernize local governance, institutionalize transparency, and foster sustainable municipal development across the Kingdom.

Under the legislative amendments, the draft law preserves the five core statutory duties of the mayor--presiding over council sessions, representing the municipality in official forums, signing legally vetted contracts and memoranda of understanding, overseeing municipal committees, and safeguarding institutional rights.

Crucially, the amendments introduce eight strategic authorities that elevate the mayor from an administrative manager to a proactive leader of local development. These new powers include monitoring municipal service quality, tracking delayed or stalled infrastructural and investment projects, and spearheading inter-agency coordination with government ministries and the private sector.

To reinforce robust governance, the draft empowers mayors to oversee compliance with transparency and conflict-of-interest regulations, lead institutional performance evaluation committees, and hold the executive apparatus directly accountable for service delivery benchmarks and strategic execution.

A cornerstone of the revised legislation is the institutionalization of participatory budgeting, which actively engages citizens in prioritizing municipal projects and public spending to ensure alignment with grassroots needs. Furthermore, the draft establishes a permanent legal framework for neighborhood committees, mandating public hearing sessions to gather community input prior to finalizing localized service and infrastructure decisions.

To bolster institutional accountability and public trust, the law permits the live broadcasting of municipal council sessions, expands mandatory public information disclosures, and requires municipalities to publish regular performance reports detailing achievement levels and service quality metrics.

The legislative framework also introduces structural advancements by widening female and youth representation--including guaranteed slots on executive boards--and cleanly demarcating the roles of the municipal council in policymaking and oversight from the executive administration's implementation duties, thereby eliminating jurisdictional overlap.

Additionally, the draft creates specialized institutional evaluation committees, establishes modern legal pathways for public-private partnerships in local investments, links budgets directly to developmental KPIs, and mandates comprehensive digital transformation and process automation to streamline municipal collections, cut administrative overhead, and optimize service delivery.

//Petra// AA