Jordan News

Written by: Muhammad Al-Rantissi

Since his return to the portfolio of the Ministry of Water and Irrigation last March, after receiving it in 2009, Minister Muhammad Jamil al-Najjar has been immersed in many files related to water.

Al-Najjar, born in Jerusalem in 1956, “as it was said,” agreed to bear the burden of normalization in return for handing him over the water bag again, and that the so-called “energy for water” agreement signed by Jordan with “Israel” and the UAE under American auspices was proposed to him before he entered the government and he agreed to proceed with that agreement.

Another opinion refuses to hold Al-Najjar responsible for normalization on the grounds that the agreement of intentions is a “state project” rather than a government project, in addition to that Al-Najjar would have gone on its path with Al-Najjar or someone else.

However, the agreed points are that Al-Najjar fails to defend the project, or to present a narrative that convinces the Jordanians, or at least mitigates their rejection of it, in addition to the criticism that Al-Najjar is “one of the faces of the accumulated failure in the water file,” since he was a minister in The year 2009, and thus missed with those who missed the opportunity of an integrated national water project.

This means, that Al-Najjar did not pay attention to what history will record against him, as he is the one who signed the agreement and his name will be associated with it for life, and this also coincides with sharp criticism of him by specialists who accuse him of turning his back on many solutions to the water crisis in Jordan instead of resorting to “Israel.”

And the matter is not limited to “normalization,” as the minister’s critics assert that he “is drowning in an inch of water,” and talks about his management of the water crisis that troubles Jordanians from time to time, as well as his laxity and hesitation in the face of what are known as “water whales,” who are draining its water sources. for their unlicensed wells and for their own farms and businesses.

This happens, although Al-Najjar himself, who was outside the government a few months ago, said in televised statements that there are five people with a clan background who steal eight million cubic meters of the kingdom’s water annually.

Regarding the carpenter’s academic qualifications, he holds a Bachelor’s degree in Civil Engineering from Krasnodar University in Russia, and a Master’s degree in Environmental Engineering from Newcastle University in Britain.

As for the most important positions he held, in addition to the position of Minister, they are Head of a Department in the Directorate of Projects Follow-up / Ministry of Water and Irrigation, Director of the National Sanitation Plan Project Amman – Zarqa, Director of the Directorate of Sanitary Projects in the Jordan Water Authority, and Director of the Building-Operation (BOT) Projects Directorate and transport in the Project Management Unit (PMU), and the Director of the Planning and Management Unit/Water Authority.