Shopping, weddings and nights out: government vehicles in Jordan “never sleep”.

The vehicle tracking system is failing to control wasteful government spending on fuel.

Ibaa al-Qaisi
Ibaa al-Qaisi
November 20 2024
Jan 19 2024

This data-supported investigation documents violations in the use of government vehicles outside official working hours for personal ends, coinciding with increased fuel bills for the running of these vehicles. The report reveals that the government vehicle tracking system has failed to keep tabs on vehicles being used for purposes other than those intended.



One summer evening, a car with a red government license plate pulls up in front of a wedding hall in one of the country’s governorates. A woman sitting next to the driver gets out with two children and they headed towards the hall. A few days later, the street in front of the same wedding hall has looked like a government car park. It turns out the wedding taking place there, was that of the son of a prominent figure in the governorate.

This report reveals that a large number of government vehicles are being used outside official working hours and during holidays. It also shows that, following the launch of a vehicle tracking programme whose main aim was to control vehicle fuel costs, the Jordanian government has actually been spending more on fuel to run its vehicles.

Between 2016 and 2022, the Jordanian government has spent around 1.4 million Jordanian dinars ($1.9m) on a two-stage vehicle tracking system aimed at stopping waste of public resources by monitoring the movement of official vehicles to limit their use outside working hours. The third stage of this project , launched in late 2023, has cost around JD69,000 ($97,300). This latest phase involved installing 900 electronic 4G tracking devices in vehicles.

Using artificial intelligence, this tracking system gathers information about the vehicle by means of a chip installed in the tracking device, which monitors the vehicle’s location, speed, fuel consumption and other data.

The report included on-the-ground monitoring of the use of government vehicles in Jordan outside working hours. Over two months of field work, which focused on one of the governorates in the Central Region, we counted around 90 violations involving 59 government vehicles, which belonged to ministries and municipalities both inside and outside the governorate. To complete this report, we monitored the use of vehicles in 32 different ministries, agencies and municipalities. The report also benefited from publicly available data from the Directorate of Tracking and Monitoring Government Vehicles.

This report has also used analysis of data from 147 ministries and government units relating to their spending on fuel for government vehicles.

Locations where vehicles were found being used for private purposes

Locations where vehicles were found being used for private purposes

The Jordanian government established the Directorate of Tracking Government Vehicles in 2015, under the umbrella of the Ministry of Transport, to control the use of government vehicles. The first stage was launched that same year.

According to the Directorate of Tracking Government Vehicles, the project brought the government considerable savings, through redeploying unused vehicles to other areas, instead of buying new ones. In reply to questions tabled by ARIJ, the ministry said there had been no increase in expenditure. Also, a decision was also taken to withdraw from service vehicles with large engines and to introduce energy-saving (hybrid and electric) vehicles. The ratio of such vehicles increased by 23 percent between 2017 and 2024, according to the same source.

The first phase included the installation of five thousand tracking devices, each carrying a SIM card. The bid for this contract was awarded to three companies - the Jordanian mobile phone company Zain; the General Computers & Electronics Company (GCE); and the Jordan Company for Managing &Tracking Vehicles (Traklink) – which were responsible for supply, installation, operation and maintenance as well as securing spare parts for the system.

The first phase of the project was completed in 2018, after which a second phase introduced 8,500 more vehicles, bringing the number of government vehicles included in the program to 13,500. Zain and GEC were responsible for installing tracking devices and providing maintenance and technical support.

The system is able to prevent the movement of any government vehicle which does not have an electronic permit, according to a statement by the spokesman for the Ministry of Transport, Ali Obeidat. The ministry’s Directorate of Tracking Government Vehicles says that the control of vehicle movement has been automated and is monitored in real time, so that an alert is issued if vehicles are moved without an electronic order. Nevertheless, the Audit Bureau’s latest 2022 report recorded over 300 violations in 2021, where vehicles had been moved without a relevant order, and a 780 percent increase in such violations for the following year (2022), bringing the total to 2,922. Meanwhile, the Audit Bureau report showed that, while violations for using vehicles outside official working hours went down by 28 percent, speeding violations doubled in 2022.

Ministry of Finance data indicate that spending on the vehicle tracking programme began in earnest in 2016, with the total amount spent by the government on technical equipment up to 2022, reaching about JD1m ($1.4m), leaving aside the cost of software, technical consulting services and salaries.

Data from Queclink Wireless Solutions Co. - the Chinese-based manufacturer of the device - indicate that an alarm sounds if the external GPS antenna attached to the device becomes disconnected. However, the Audit Bureau found that, during 2021, and 2022, there were 120 cases where the device stopped working, because the power supply had been disconnected. Most of these cases were in 2021.

Although the Audit Bureau’s report indicates a decline of approximately 30 percent in violations involving the use of government vehicles outside official working hours in 2022, compared to 2021, and also a significant drop in violations involving disconnection of the power supply stopping the device from working, the bureau was relying in that report on data gathered solely from the vehicle tracking system itself.

Increased expenditure

Transport Minister Wesam Tahtamouni announced in August 2024 that the government vehicle tracking project had helped save around JD4.3m (£6m approx.) in fuel consumption up to 2023.

But analysis of the Jordan state budgets for the last seven years shows that spending on fuel for government vehicles increased by nearly 240 percent between 2017 and 2023. This includes transport vehicles, heavy machinery and saloon cars – four-door cars for passengers only. Heavy machinery refers to vehicles used in construction, while transport vehicles include buses and others.

Increase in spending on fuel for government vehicles since 2017

Expenditures of transport vehicles and heavy machinery

Expenditures of passenger cars

Source: analysis of General budget data 2017-2022 - Jordan Ministry of Finance.

Figures in Jordanian dinars. Re-estimated value used for 2023 because no actual figure available

Health and education came top of the list of ministries who reduced spending on fuel for government passenger cars, cutting their bills by JD300,000 in 2022 compared with 2017. They were followed by the Ministry of Justice, with a reduction of more than JD160,000 Jordanian dinars (approximately $226,000).

The Ministry of Interior/Public Security accounted for the greatest increase in fuel expenditure for passenger vehicles – of the order of ten million Jordanian dinars between 2017 and 2022. Likely due to its operation: requiring patrolling in vehicles round the clock. Next came the Jordan Valley Authority, under the Ministry of Water, with an increase of over one million Jordanian dinars for the same period. Then came the Ministry of Agriculture, whose spending increased by about 350 thousand Jordanian dinars over the same period. The Directorate of Tracking and Monitoring Government Vehicles points out that Public Security vehicles are not subject to monitoring by the government vehicle tracking system.

Of all the state companies and agencies which saw an increase in spending on fuel for passenger vehicles, the Jordan Water Company and Yarmouk Water Company came top of the list.

Rising fuel prices does not explain the increase in expenditures of vehicle fuel for the period 2017-2023

Source: Analysis of budget data 2017-2022 - Jordanian Ministry of Finance
ge percentage change calculated for all types of vehicle fuels

Although the number of government vehicles fell by around 2,000 between 2020 and 2022, data analysis shows that spending on vehicle fuel in this same period rose by JD2.5m ($3.5m). Analysis also shows that, leaving aside spending on fuel for Public Security vehicles, the government’s fuel bill for this period went up by 50 percent, despite the high number of vehicles being withdrawn from service.

Health, Education, and “Public Works and Housing” - the ministries that have reduced their passenger car fuel bills the most.

Change in amount spent on fuel for passenger cars 2017-2022
Source: Analysis of General budget data 2017-2022 - Jordanian Ministry of Finance
Expenditure in Jordanian Dinars

Our analysis of the gasoline price rise between 2017 and 2023 shows that the price of vehicle fuels - including all types of gasoline and diesel - increased on average by 36 percent between 2017 and 2023. And yet government fuel expenditure went up 240 percent, an additional outlay of around JD30m ($42m approx.).

Over the last two years also, the rise in fuel prices fails to explain increased spending on fuel for vehicles, whose numbers have not changed. Gasoline and diesel prices went up only one percent, while vehicle fuel expenditure rose 11 per cent over these two years. This extra spending amounted to JD4.3m ($6m).

Changing fuel prices do not appear to be the main factor behind the changes in fuel bills at a time when the vehicle tracking system was being expanded. The average price of fuel rose on average by 18 per cent between 2017 and 2018, while the government’s fuel bill did not increase, but actually saw a modest fall of three percent. And the average vehicle fuel price increase in 2023 was only one percent, yet the fuel bill went up 15 per cent that same year.

Nocturnal activity

A couple of government vehicles are parked in front of one of the hotels overlooking the Red Sea coast, in Aqaba Governorate. The two cars, which belong to municipalities outside the governorate, are then left in the hotel parking lot, instead of in a government garage.

Elsewhere, a vehicle from a municipality outside the capital pulls up late at night next to a famous hotel in the Shmeisani area. It is difficult to imagine what official business would require a government vehicle to be used after midnight in such an area!

In reply to questions from the ARIJ Network, the Directorate of Tracking Government Vehicles said that government vehicles could well be in use day or night, or during official holidays. When these vehicles are seen on the streets, they will be engaged on official business - accompanying official delegations and visits to government agencies. If they were to be used for private purposes, says the directorate, then this would be picked up by the electronic system, and the perpetrator would face the necessary sanction.

We also asked the directorate how the tracking system came to locate outside the country a government vehicle which was attached to one of the municipalities in the Central Region. The directorate replied that this was a new problem that had arisen at the start of 2024, and was due to interference in the electronic tracking systems caused by the war in the region. This interference was affecting devices near the border area.

Nevertheless, the field work carried out by the author of this investigation has shown that many government vehicles are being used outside working hours, and on official and public holidays, and that this happens outside the region or governorate where the vehicle’s agency is located.

About 78% of the monitored cases occurred during evening hours, with all vehicles found in locations far from the ministries or government entities to which they belong. Exceptions were made for vehicles from the Ministries of Health, Interior, and Defense, as well as the Customs Department, since it is difficult to determine the purpose of their evening movements, given that they might be operating during those times as part of official duties.

Our field monitoring revealed that people used government vehicles to go shopping with others, including children and teenagers. Government vehicles were also spotted parked up in front of grocery stores, shopping malls, barbershops, and restaurants.

Our monitoring also revealed that the tracking devices in some vehicles were not working, according to data from the government tracking system

The Directorate of Tracking Government Vehicles says that, if there is a malfunction in an electronic tracking device, or if there is no signal, this shows up immediately on the system. And devices are serviced weekly to ensure that the system stays working effectively.

The device frequently malfunctions; on one occasion, a vehicle belonging to a municipality was spotted parked in front of a commercial building in the evening. However, the government tracking system showed a different location for the vehicle—one recorded two weeks earlier—not its actual current position. Despite this, the system displayed a green indicator, signaling that the tracking device was supposedly functioning.

Municipalities are among the most frequent violators when it comes to the misuse of government vehicles.

The latest Audit Bureau report (2022) shows that some of the municipalities outside the capital are among the official agencies most responsible for exceeding their fuel allocations, and also for either having broken tracking devices in their vehicles, or not using the tracking system at all.

Government vehicles have not just been taken out for family or personal “outings”. People have even used them for illegal activities, like carrying smuggled goods, for illegal fishing, or to “harass” people, according to the verdicts in Jordanian courts, following the introduction of the electronic tracking system.

Jordan Water Company, Yarmouk Water Company and Jordan Post topped the list of entities and companies with the highest increase in fuel expenditure for passenger vehicles.

analysis of General budget 2017-2022 - Jordanian Ministry of Finance
Expenditure in Jordanian Dinars

Small cars, big bills

Small passenger-only vehicles, numbering 3,300, constitute a quarter of the government’s total fleet of vehicles. But in 2022 it spent about JD17m ($24m) on fuel for these passenger cars.

In 2022, the number of government vehicles reached 15,331, about 90 percent of which come under the government tracking system. The Ministry of Transport says it allocates around JD300,000 ($423,000) annually to keep the system running. There are, however, only four technical staff working on it, and they are responsible for covering the locations of all government agencies.

This expenditure does not cover other tracking systems. The Central Bank and the Aqaba Special Economic Zone Authority both have their own tracking systems.

The report, through tracking data of several government vehicles operating on the streets during evening hours, revealed that the tracking system was providing the coordinates of the vehicle’s location from days earlier, not on the day of the field monitoring. This suggests that the tracking device was intermittently functioning. This issue was also observed in a vehicle granted a temporary exemption from monitoring; however, the device failed to resume operation after the exemption period ended, and the system did not flag the end of the exemption, instead indicating that the tracking device was still active.

While this report highlighted the repeated misuse of vehicles for non-official purposes and the inefficiency of the tracking devices, these factors alone do not fully explain the growing government fuel bill.

According to the guidelines set for the government tracking system in 2017, the government agency should be issuing electronic permits for use of its vehicles. However, the Audit Bureau has detected an increase of about 780 percent between 2021 and 2022 in violations related to failure to issue electronic permits for government vehicles.

While working on this report, and through the vehicle tracking system, it was discovered that the tracking device in one government vehicle had been nonfunctional for months. This vehicle had previously been involved in an illegal activity, as determined by a judicial ruling. The tracking device in the same vehicle resumed functioning after months of inactivity but stopped again shortly before the publication of this report.

This report was produced with the support of ARIJ.