(MENAFN- Jordan Times) Construction is expected to resume on the long-stalled Amman Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) project within the next few weeks, a source familiar with the project said on Monday.
Despite having faced major challenges over the past year, the project is viable and "it will see life", said the source from the Ministry of Public Works and Housing, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
Work on the project stopped last summer amid concerns over its feasibility and funding, and the Cabinet then officially suspended it in September, halting all tenders floated for its future phases.
In May, a French embassy official said the French International Development Agency, which had extended a $166 million long-term, low-interest line of credit to finance the BRT, was unsatisfied with the project's progress and was considering terminating its credit offer.
According to the source, who worked with the Greater Amman Municipality (GAM) on the BRT development plan, the agency is still committed to finance the project, but not for long.
An international firm started a reassessment of the project on Monday after signing a contract with the government to do so one day earlier, the source added.
The firm is scheduled to provide its initial report within three weeks, after which it will proceed with detailed studies and assessments within two months.
The multimillion-dinar project, which GAM embarked on in 2009, entails operating premium, high-capacity buses that can carry more than 120 passengers and will run on a three-minute frequency during peak hours on segregated lanes along Amman's busiest corridors.
Public transportation experts have called the BRT the best option for a city like Amman to resolve its growing public transportation dilemma.
In March, the project's director, Ayman Smadi, said the project had been "politicised" and accused political enemies of GAM's management, including some members of Parliament, of using the project as a means to attack them.
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