Gov’t will not borrow funds for new city project — Shboul

AMMAN — The new city is a national strategic mega-project meant to improve quality of life through the establishment of a new urban area to relieve the population pressure in Jordan’s major cities, notably  Amman and Zarqa, Minister of Government Communications Faisal Shboul said on Wednesday.

In press remarks to the Jordan News Agency, Petra, Shboul said that the new city aims to achieve the aspirations of the Jordanian state in its second centenary by offering solutions to economic, development and population challenges.

The first phase will have an estimated area of 25 sq. km., with the project’s total area to reach 270 sq. km. in 2050, the minister said. 

In the first phase, the new city’s expected population will likely exceed 157,000 people, and is projected to reach 1,000,000 people in 2050, he said.

The city, which will be built entirely on government-owned land surrounded by Treasury-owned land, is expected to provide around 83,000 permanent jobs by the end of the first phase, and between 90,000 and 100,000 jobs during the construction stages, Shboul said.

Responding to a question about investments in the city project, the minister said that all investments will be conducted in partnership with the local private sector, in addition to foreign investments and government contributions, stressing that the government will not take out domestic or foreign loans to complete the project.