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Maan residents receive training to meet demands of investment projects

By Dana Al Emam - Aug 04,2016 - Last updated at Aug 04,2016

Khaled Shalabi seeks to pursue a career in renewable energy (Photo courtesy of EDAMA)

AMMAN — After receiving a technical training in the renewable energy field, Khaled Shalabi feels he is a part of Jordan’s future in the burgeoning sector.

Earlier this year, the 29-year-old Maan resident took part in a two-week training course where he learned to set up solar panels and regulate and maintain photovoltaic systems.

Shalabi said he decided to move into a “well performing” sector after his family’s car trade business started to slow down.  

“Solar energy and renewable energy in general is the future for Jordan and the entire world,” he told The Jordan Times, adding that renewable energy projects in Qwairah, Maan, Mafraq and Jafer offered good employment opportunities for local technicians.

Some 40 Maan residents took part in the training programme offered by the Maan Development Company (MDC) in partnership with the Vocational Training Corporation and the Shams Maan Company, according to Shalabi.

This opportunity entitled Shalabi, who finished high school but did not go to university, and his colleagues to a three-month job opportunity at a solar energy company in Maan Governorate, some 220km south of Amman. 

He received a stipend of JD18 a day, and his meals and transport were paid for. 

But the job finished on June 1 and he has been unemployed since then.  

“I hope the solar energy companies that we trained at will give us permanent jobs at their future projects in Maan,” he said.

Shalabi said 1,300 to 1,400 young people from Maan had temporary jobs in nine renewable energy companies in the governorate.

Firas Rimawi, adviser to the CEO at the MDC, said training programmes are “very important” for big solar-run power plants, which require specialised and qualified technicians to build, operate and maintain the systems.

“These skills are also needed to further develop small and medium-sized systems, which are often used in households, schools, hospitals and mosques,” he told The Jordan Times on Thursday over the phone.

Rimawi noted that providing training opportunities for young male and female locals in various sectors complements efforts to attract investments to the Maan Development Area.

He said that training courses, which have so far engaged hundreds of residents, cover various sectors including renewable energy, truck driving, catering, jewellery making, leather tanning and electro-mechanics.

 

The company’s training programmes are funded by the USAID and the EU, according to Rimawi.

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