Owners of abandoned buildings given 3 months to clean, lock them

AMMAN — The Greater Amman Municipality (GAM) on Monday urged owners of abandoned old buildings to repair and lock their properties as they pose a danger to public safety and health. 

In an advertisement published in Arabic dailies, GAM urged owners to fix and lock, or demolish the buildings within a period of three months, otherwise the municipality will do so and owners will bear all expenses. 

In the advertisement, GAM described the abandoned buildings as health hazards. 

Late last month, The Jordan Times published a report on abandoned buildings in the capital after a reported rape attempt at an abandoned building between the 4th and 5th circles in Jabal Amman. 

In the report, officials from the municipality and police described deserted buildings as a “headache” for both agencies as they have become crime sites and health hazards filled with garbage. 

There are over 1,000 abandoned buildings in the capital, some of which provide shelter to drug dealers and users, and have been reported as scenes of sexual assaults and even murders, according to Raed Haddadin, director of the building control department at GAM. 

He said the reason most of these abandoned buildings are neglected is mainly because they were inherited by a number of heirs who neglected the properties, indicating that the majority of the properties were built some 70 to 80 years ago.  

Haddadin was commenting on The Jordan Times report. He said at that time that GAM would take measures to address the issue of abandoned buildings, noting that it would publish an advertisement in newspapers giving owners a notice to clean, maintain and lock these properties.