Mayor of Amman, Eng. Omar Al Maani, said that the industrial sector is the main incubator of employment, and the stone workshops represent a vital sector of construction, and it is one of the most traditional crafts.
During a two day workshop which was under the Mayors patronage and titled the Status of Stone Workshops and Bricks Factories in Amman, Eng, Al Maani emphasized that it is a must that the concerned agencies consolidate their efforts to support stone sawing workshops and bricks factories; and he also stressed the necessity to develop this sector technologically and humanly. Such long awaited step would enable this crucial industry to compete and export.
Al Maani said that this workshop is expected to come up with clarifications about the activities of this sector, the random distribution and spread of stone workshops, and to reach recommendations regarding the negative impacts, ways to limit and reduce the environmental and sight pollution, in addition to discussing the waste of this industry and the possibility of the ideal usage of the residuals.
He pointed out that a study is being conducted on rehabilitation of industrial zones; it is part of the seventh stage of Amman Plan, Metropolitan Growth.
According to Al Maani, this study aims at re-planning and organizing the industrial zones to avoid negative overlap between the different utilizations of the land, especially housing and industry, since the industrial zones are part of the industrial map of Amman; and eventually, the available work zones map of the city.
During the workshop, which Deputy Mayor, Eng. Amer Al Basheer, City Manager, Eng. Ammar Gharaybeh, and some City Council members attended, Al Maani clarified that the preliminary findings of the current status of these industries denote that there is a lack of compliance with the environmental requirements (such as mud, manufacturing residuals, wastes of stone and marble cutting), and invading sidewalks and sometimes streets for storage or display purposes.
He also referred to the random distribution and spread of the workshops, which do not conform with the neighboring utilization purposes.
The study of industrial zones rehabilitation tackles the status and size of this sector, noting that the stone workshops are distributed within the industrial zones under the jurisdiction of Greater Amman Municipality (GAM) in 13 administrative regions in the form of small and big congregations.
The preliminary statistics indicate that the total number of workshops related to this sector is about 1000, extending from stone sawing to marble and bricks factories, located within the industrial zones of Amman city, of which 60% are licensed according to the third stage findings of Amman Plan which classifies such industry as medium industries including processing operations, manufacturing, collection and storing. In addition to external warehouses of waste and residuals which cause disturbance and low possibility of harmful emissions.
The workshop coordinator, Dr. Khaled Al Wazani declared that stone sawing and bricks manufacturing are important and essential industrial sectors, and have positive influence on investment, workforce employment, and providing the surrounding area with infrastructure, but on the other hand, they have negative bearing that is imminent to be reduced in the future.
He stressed the importance of working on maximizing the advantages and reducing the disadvantages of this industry to reach the desired level of perfection.
During the first session of the workshop, Manager of Jordan Chamber of Industry, Dr. Zaki Al Ayoubi, presented a working paper titled Small & Medium Foundations of Stone Sawing and Bricks Manufacture Sector between Organization and Reorganization, in which he highlighted the architectural development of Amman and the horizontal expansion resulting from the forced immigration movements, which created an urgent need for proper housing that required the founding of construction related industries, including stone saws in and around Amman (near the raw materials resources and far from residential areas).
The second working paper titled Stone Manufacture and the Countrys Role in Updating such Industry, the General Manager Assistant of Al Zomar Group for Marble and Granite, Mr. Adnan Al Kurdi, requested that industrial zones be rehabilitated as an industrial prototype by forming a committee of experts in GAM and the private sector to be in charge of defining the zones to be included in the renovation within a priority scheme; and these zones be rehabilitated through acquisition or allocation by GAM, all in preparation for upgrading and modernization (of the industry).
In the third working paper of the first session, Eng. Ibtisam Azzawi Shahrour from the Ministry of Commerce and Industry made a presentation about stone and marble sector in the Kingdom.
The first working paper of the second session titled Industrial Zones Rehabilitation within GAM included an analytical study of the situation of stone sawing and marble and bricks factories. Manager of the Amman Plan Metropolitan Growth in GAM, Eng. Rima Odeh revealed the existence of random distribution and spread of the stone and bricks workshops; some are close to houses and school areas, and not complying with the environmental standards, let alone leading to contamination.
A questionnaire, conducted by the team of the Amman Plan in nine industrial zones within GAM boundaries, indicated the independence of these zones on small capitals that usually do not exceed JD 1200, limited space area not more than 1 Donum with more than one workshop, and 1-3 workers, 80% of whom are non Jordanians, the survey has also pointed out that the main resource of raw materials of these workshops is Wadi Al Esh.
Ms. Odeh noted that in case the decision of moving these workshops should materialize, the criteria of new sites selection shall stipulate that they be close to main streets, with more space area, and based on organized planning, and to be located far from residential gatherings and forests.
The second session activities included two working papers, the first presented by Eng. Thabet Bani Ata from the Royal Scientific Society (RSS), which was about the importance of control and supervision on dust percentage in mining and stone sawing areas; the second paper was by Mr. Mohammed Al Shami, from the Jordanian Association of Natural Stone and Bricks Exporters and Producers, who discussed the firms contribution in developing the investment environment of this sector.
The third session working papers included the engineering standards of construction stone in the Kingdom, presented by Eng. Jamal Abu Qubu, in addition to the problems resulting from stone sawing and bricks workshops discussed by Abdallah Al Hiasat from the Ministry of Health. Finally Mr. Said Khatari from Jordan Environment Society tackled the environmental effect of these industrial workshops.
Many competent parties attended the workshop such as, the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, Ministry of Environment, Ministry of Health, Jordanian Environment Society, Ministry of Municipal Affairs, Natural Resources Authority, Jordan Chamber of Industry, Ministry of Agriculture, Association of Economic Projects Development, Royal Society for the Conservation of Nature, the Jordanian Assembly for Natural Stone & Bricks Exporters and Producers, Industrial Cities Establishment, Jordan Investment Board, Royal Scientific Society, Engineers and Contractors Assembly, and Association of Housing Sector Investors.