Amman - The Jordanian government said Monday it had terminated an agreement signed with a Pakistani-Chinese coalition of firms to build a light railway between Amman and the industrial city of Zarqa for legal reasons. "From a legal viewpoint, the documents presented by the coalition included a number of issues that violate the reference conditions and the agreement for the construction and operation of the project at the agreed time," Transport Minister Alaa Batayneh said.
The agreement on the 216-million-dollar project was signed during the World Economic Forum conference at the Dead Sea resort in May.
The winning coalition included Pakistan's Sadullah Khan & Brothers, CETC International of China, Infrastructure Development Company, Hycarbex American Energy and the United Jordanian Contractors.
The group won the contract in a competition with a Dutch-Egyptian- Jordanian consortium and a Spanish-Kuwaiti consortium.
The Jordanian government originally set February 22 as a deadline for the Pakistani-Chinese coalition to finalise the financial details, but agreed to grant the group another month which expired on on March 22.
Work on the project, which involves a commuter train running on a dual, 28-kilometre railway track from Amman to Zarqa, was scheduled to start on June 22 and be completed within 30 months.
