High cost pushes GAM to shelve plan for large car showroom in east Amman

AMMAN — The Greater Amman Municipality (GAM) on Sunday said it has “temporarily” suspended its plans for the “Madouneh Project”, aimed at relocating multiple car showrooms to one location and creating a space for used cars on a site in Madouneh area in east Amman.

Asem Matar, the director of the department of property management and acquisition at the GAM, said the municipality at present has no plans to continue with the project since the government informed GAM that each dunum of land would cost around JD20,000.

GAM would be required to pay around JD18 million for the 900 dunums needed to implement the first stages of the project. 

Matar said that it “was not on the municipality’s budget” to create a city just for cars.

“The main aim of the project is to move cars offered for sale to a single place, reducing traffic jams and reviving east Amman with some projects. People can also invest there, so we breathe life into the area,” he added.

With the government’s decision to charge JD20,000 per dunum, however, the municipality “will have to look for alternatives”, which will take time, Matar said.

“The cars left on the sides of the road are increasing in number, and people started complaining about the traffic jams caused by having one-lane streets. The cars can fit on the site in Madouneh,” he told The Jordan Times.

“Currently, we are looking for other sites to implement the project.” 

Matar explained that the project’s site should be prepared for as many cars offered for sale as possible, with suitable infrastructure to accommodate the used vehicles.

In previous remarks to The Jordan Times, Emad Hiyari, the deputy city director for planning affairs, said a similar project was almost implemented in the Marka area in 2013, but nothing has been achieved.