This website provides up-to-date information on OMS Project to the Water Authority of Jordan and is available in English language. It should be noted that this website and all contents are a product of the OMS team and its professionals. No external expertise had to be used in the development and launching.
Modern management of water & wastewater utilities can greatly benefit from computerised, integrated information management tools on the basis of Geographic Information Systems (GIS), if consequently built-in to the regular, traditional business process across all fields of activity and provide short-term efficiency gains particularly in water loss reduction, customer management and operations control, as well as providing the basis for any kind of private sector participation (PSP).
Increase efficiency of potable water supply and wastewater disposal services to the population of Jordan through commercialisation of business processes in the Water Authority of Jordan (WAJ) and higher private sector participation (PSP) wherever feasible and appropriate.
The Operations Management Support (OMS) Project comprises five different project phases, out of which four have been completed and the fifth one is in progress.
Focussed on Greater Amman area. Following thorough investigations and analysis of the Amman Governorate Water Administration (AGWA), assistance was provided in the development and application of water loss reduction programmes, improvement of maintenance & repair services, preparation of integrated GIS based information management systems and financial management / accounting procedures, and the establishment of a vocational training centre in Marka. Ultimately, restructuring and reorganisation proposals for AGWA were developed, with the objective to improve the operations management through application of commercial business practises and private sector participation.
Priorities had to be modified after WAJ's decision to engage a private operator for the AGWA management. Activities (with OMS being part of the Governmnet Counterpart Team) concentrated on the preparation of the World Bank financed Amman Management Contract and preparing the establishment of an autonomous water entity AGWA by introducing computerised commercial accounting systems, carrying out comprehensive subscriber surveys (CSS), establishment of an integrated, GIS based Information Management System called ANIS, and further support to the vocational training centre in extending it's training activities on a country-wide level.
Having handed over AGWA operations to the private operator LEMA (Lyonnaise dex Eaux, Montgomery Watson Arabtech Jardaneh), WAJ and OMS agreed to disseminate the experience and lessons learned to other governorates.
Activities concentrated on the establishment of autonomous, decentralised and commmercially operating WAJ business units for Aqaba and Irbid Governorate. Further activities were:
Despite of the short project phase, some major decisions and developments influenced the OMS work, i.e. the decision of WAJ and KfW to work on a management contract for the four northern governorates of Irbid, Jerash, Ajloun and Mafraq.
In close cooperation with KfW OMS concentrated all efforts to decentralise and isolate these four governorates from WAJ headquarters and form a new entity called Northern Governorates Water Administration (NGWA).
The establishment of a water company Aqaba, although approved by the Minister of Water & Irrigation, did not make much progress during this period.
This ongoing project phase is continuing the work already started in OMS4, and added activities in supporting the KfW funded transaction advisor (Halcrow) for developing and tendering the management consultant for NGWA.
Other salient features of this phase are: