Jordan’s Transport Ministry has given consultants more time to prepare their bids for a contract covering a feasibility study and detailed design for a bus system connecting Amman to Zarqa.

The initial deadline was set for 15 July and has now been rescheduled for 29 July.

Eight consortiums have already been prequalified for the project after the government called for expressions of interest in March.

The planned bus network is intended to ease congestion on the heavily used roads between the capital city of Amman and Zarqa, located 20 kilometres northeast of Amman.

Originally the Jordanian government planned to develop a light rail system joining the two cities, funded through a public-private partnership (PPP). However, due to cost constraints the plans were dropped in favour of a bus system.