Amman, Feb. 4 (Petra) – The Ministry of Public Works and Housing announced completion of a comprehensive package of engineering interventions and technical renovations for 52 vital sites damaged by the recent landslides and floods nationwide at a total cost of approximately JD9 million.
In a statement issued Wednesday, the ministry affirmed these efforts are part of an "urgent response" plan aimed to ensure the user safety of international and main highways and reinforce hotspots that faced structural and geotechnical challenges due to recent weather conditions.
The ministry said the work aimed to rehabilitate the damaged infrastructure, in accordance with the "highest" technical standards to ensure its sustainability in the face of climate change.
The ministry also launched "advanced" hydrological and hydraulic studies to assess all stormwater drainage facilities and bridges across the Kingdom's three regions.
This step comes in response to address repercussions of climate change and urban expansion, which altered the courses of natural valleys and require a "comprehensive update of rainfall data, and plans to develop designs for water infrastructure to be more resilient to future floods." The ministry said these studies underscore its "commitment" to implement sustainable solutions that ensure stability of the mountain road slopes and protect national infrastructure from the risks of flash floods.
In terms of institutional and technological development, the ministry is moving this year to digitize field monitoring by establishing a central control center that has "advanced" camera systems to monitor the condition of roads and bridges in real time, mainly in landslide high-risk areas.
As for future plans, the ministry will purchase dozens of new vehicles to support maintenance and emergency sites in the governorates, activate road management systems, and use modern modeling software to audit construction plans.
This effort reflects a "fundamental" shift towards proactive management of weather-related crises and modernization of infrastructure in line with the Kingdom's Economic Modernization Vision, the ministry pointed out.
//Petra// AG
