Jordan Glass Industries Put Up for Sale Again

According to committee member Mohammad Kour, the sale of the plant's investment units could be considered in the future if current efforts, to sell the company as a whole, fail.

Kour indicated that the plant's units could be used in different other industries, pointing out that this sale option is not on offer at this point.

The 507,000-square-metre plant has two electricity stations, water tanks, different equipment, an administration building, a restaurant and a unit for the treatment of sandstone, dolomite and limestone, in addition to several hangars.

The factory faced problems from the start. It was launched in line with the 1981-1985 five-year development plan along other projects for Jerash, Irbid and Aqaba.

The project started off as a private sector project to make use of Maan's raw materials.

As the JD2 million capital allocated for the project was not enough for its launch, the government intervened bringing up the capital to JD5 million and becoming a main partner in 1977.

Although the private sector contracted the French Company BSN, the production came late in 1984.

The plant imported the best technologies available in accordance contracts drawn up in 1976. However, because of the fast technological strides made between 1976 and 1984, the project did not enjoy the competitiveness advantage.

The indebtedness of the company ballooned and work was stopped at the plant more than once for technical reasons.

Except for 1988, the factory continued to post losses that reached around JD22 million at the end of 2002.

The project's initial operational plan did not include about JD8 million in maintenance costs which were needed in five year's time.

The reluctance of the government to pump extra funding put more pressure on the plant and the workers until the work was stopped at the plant in 1987.

Polish experts were sought for assistance to restart the plant's operations but that was not economically feasible in light of the development in the glass industries in nearby countries.

A number of studies confirmed that restarting the project's operations requires around JD10 million.