Jordan Times reported that a renewable energy fund will be established in the Kingdom under the auspices of the Cabinet if the 2010 renewable energy and rational energy consumption draft law, endorsed by the Lower House is enacted.

Article 11 of the legislation stipulates that a fund be established in Jordan with the aim of financing utility scale renewable energy projects and promoting standards of rational energy use.

During session, an overwhelming majority of MPs voted in favor of the Lower House Energy Committee's amendments to the law which scrapped the government's recommendation to make the fund financially and administratively independent and opted instead to place it under the control of the minister of energy and mineral resources.

The government's version of the law had stipulated that the fund would enjoy absolute independence, managing its finances and administration as a sovereign and self governing entity.

Citing concern over the emergence of new independent public institutions at a time when the state is trying to scale back the size and expense of the public sector, a majority of deputies approved the committee's amendments to Article 12 of the legislation which now states that the fund will be headed by the energy minister and include representatives from the planning, finance and environment ministries, as well as three representatives from the private sector appointed by the Council of Ministers for 3 year term.

Before MPs referred the law to the Energy Committee in March 2011, a heated discussion had erupted under the Dome over the article related to the establishment of the fund. At the time, Mr Khalaf Yassin Zyoud head of committee deputy expressed concern over the establishment of an independent body to manage the fund, saying that forming a new entity was against the current trend of merging independent public institutions.

Deputies Mr Abdul Karim Dughmi (Mafraq, 1st District) and Mr Mahmoud Kharabsheh (Balqa, 1st District) countered that if the amendments were accepted, the fund would no longer be an independent entity and thus cannot be governed by a law but rather by a bylaw formulated by the government with no legislative oversight.

The MPs based their argument on Article 120 of the Constitution, which stipulates that the administrative divisions of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, the establishment of the government departments, their classification, designations, plan of operations shall be determined by regulations issued by the Council of Ministers with the approval of the King.

Mr Khaled Toukan former energy minister of Jordan said that although both the legislative and executive authorities were opposed to the establishment of any new independent institutions the fund is a special case meaning that it would have its own law even if it were placed under Cabinet control. The majority of allocations come from the private sector and foreign donors who insist that there should be a law governing the fund.

Also yesterday, 50 MPs submitted a memorandum to the House Permanent Bureau to be sent to the Cabinet, requesting that the government reverse its decision to freeze recruitment in the public sector. Signatories of the memorandum, a copy of which was made available to The Jordan Times, argued that combating poverty and unemployment should take precedence over institutional reform.

(Sourced from Jordan Times)