Vendors urge GAM to set price ceiling for bids on food trucks

AMMAN — As the Greater Amman Municipality (GAM) prepares to offer 40 new sites in various areas across the capital to launch the mobile food trucks project, the concerned parties are urging the municipality to set a price ceiling for the bids on the trucks.

It was announced last year that the highest bidding price for a vehicle was about JD40,000 in the yard of Al Bashir Hospital, while the lowest price was JD750 for a vehicle in King Abdullah II City in Quweismeh.

The mobile food trucks project was launched last year by GAM as an alternative to street vendors that the municipality spent years cracking down on.

This year, the groups nominated to benefit from the food trucks are university students, families of security personnel who died in the line of duty of the first degree and young people who have resided in social care homes, among other groups most in need.

“The municipality is aware of the fact that some mistakes were made last year, and we are listening to the comments of this year’s targeted groups, but no decision has been taken yet by officials,” said a media officer at the municipality who preferred to remain anonymous.

“Since this year is technically the first year that the project will be launched, with last year being more about announcing biddings and drafting instructions, we hope there are more organised techniques this time,” the source added.

Street vendor Yasin Khader told The Jordan Times that since the food trucks are “supposed to be the alternative for street vendor carts, they are supposed to be as accessible and as cheap”.

Khadir said that “street vendors are already disadvantaged groups who try to make a living out of a wooden cart, so they cannot afford to pay hundreds or thousands of dinars as an alternative.”

A few weeks ago, the municipality had announced in the Official Gazette that it would offer a grant by the end of last month for an entity to run the project.

Among the instructions for obtaining a cart was that the licence holder should be Jordanian, no less than 18 years old and registered in the personnel records at the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Supply, as well as in possession of health certificates.

The new instructions also allow the placement of food trucks in public places such as parks, gardens, tourist attractions and places designated for seasonal events, such as festivals, celebrations and stadiums.

It also permitted selling near commercial complexes and main entrances of hospitals and universities, as well as near private plots of land.

The instructions do not permit the practice of selling food via vehicles in residential areas or near places of worship, schools, nurseries, kindergartens  and shops that also sell food.