You are here

Who is responsible for keeping Jordan clean?

Sep 12,2019 - Last updated at Sep 12,2019

Amman has a major road that runs through the city centre and eventually ends at the intersection of Jerash Highway No.35. It is called Al Urdon Street, the most prominent of all streets, since it is named in honour of Jordan, our Kingdom. For many years, this street only ran in the central part of the city until it was later extended many kilometres west to reach highway 35, the main artery to the north and to the Syrian border.

That extension runs through some beautiful countryside and has made the drive to places in the north a more pleasurable experience. Unfortunately, it has also become very popular with some enterprising roadside cafes, and sadly, more and more it has become a garbage dump. There are literally some places on the road where it looks like garbage trucks have come and dumped their loads.

Regrettably, the litter problem does not end there, it extends onto highway No.35 toward Jerash and beyond, where there are even more vendors by the side of the road, leaving huge mounds of styrofoam, plastic bottles, bags and flying debris behind. If one wanted to walk there, they would literally be ankle-deep in garbage.

Which governmental authority is responsible for keeping Jordan clean? Is it the Ministry of Public Works, the Ministry of Agriculture, the Ministry of Environment, the Ministry of Local Administration, the Ministry of Tourism, the Ministry of Transport, all of the above, or, as it seems, none of the above? Do the ministers or those who work in their ministries drive around the country with blindfolds over their eyes, or thick curtains on their car windows? How do they not see the horrible, ugly litter problem and how it affects everything?

Luckily for the economy, there has been a tourism boom this past year but the tourists, without fail, have all complained about the litter. They loved the country, the wonderful services and Jordan’s famous sites, but they could not understand why there was garbage everywhere. What tourists think should not be the catalyst or the reason to clean up, it should be what we citizens innately believe within ourselves is best for us and for our country.

Having clean up days is not the answer. There is no point in cleaning a section of the country if the next day or week, it is once again full of garbage. Can we not, therefore, mobilise the entire population for just one last clean up effort and then keep it like that? Then every shop, every business, every home, every school, every institution and every citizen could adopt the sidewalk, or the street, or the lot, or the field next to them to maintain our clean country.

up
53 users have voted.


Newsletter

Get top stories and blog posts emailed to you each day.

PDF