Madaba, Zarqa, Balqa Governorates:

Operations Management Support to the Middle Governorates of Jordan

Description

Under the scope of the original OMS Project the GTZ has been supporting the Water Authority of Jordan (WAJ) since 1994 in increasing the efficiency of water supply and wastewater services in the capital city, through the commercialisation of business procedures and private sector participation (PSP).

On the behalf of the Ministry of Water and Irrigation (MWI) WAJ approached GTZ to support the replication of the project and several PSP activities in the middle governorates of Jordan.

Background

Jordan is one of the most water-scarce countries in the world.

Despite its scarcity its use is not efficient, with high levels of technical and administrative losses.

The Government of Jordan took up the challenge to increase efficiency and improve operations through the introduction of commercial management and the transfer of the management responsibility to private sector companies, wherever appropriate.

Following the successful approach of the original OMS project in the capital, the welltested principles were extended to the Middle Governorates.

OMS is supporting the water authorities in the overall change management process and restructuring of the organisations, the engagement of private operators and the necessary re-engineering of business processes.

Methodology

The consultant’s approach for carrying out this project is based on the following principles:

• Break up centralized structures and relocate duties and responsibilities to lower hierarchical levels as part of the decentralization process
• Assure efficient service provision through local private companies and suitable forms of private sector participation such as micro-PSP and PPP
• Significantly improve the quality and efficiency of decision-making based on reliable base data and introduction of modern ICT
• Enhance professional competence at all levels through training.

The consultant defines the following priorities:

• Support of the three governorates by the implementation of an efficient organizational structure, strengthening the management through the introduction of efficient performance management, monitoring and controlling, and a computer-based customer management system.
• Introduction and enhancement of the geographic information system (GIS) in all governorates, and implementation of an integrated information management system
• Improvement and verification of the base data in qualitative and quantitative matters as a baseline for a realistic performance monitoring system
• Implementation of a cost-centre based and computer-aided accounting procedure, and the preparation of annual profit-and-loss statements, and
• Supporting the adjustment of the institutional framework in cooperation with the GTZ