JD150m allocated to infrastructure projects in governorates next year — Fakhoury

AMMAN — The government is implementing projects worth JD77.2 million in Karak Governorate in 2016, the Planning and International Cooperation Ministry said on Tuesday. 

Minister of Planning and International Cooperation Imad Fakhoury visited Karak, 130km southwest of Amman, on Tuesday to outline the achievements of the development programme in the governorate, where 316,629 people live.

Fakhoury led a meeting attended by the governor of Karak, local council members, mayors from the governorate, the president of the Karak Chamber of Commerce and representatives of local committees, women and youths, a ministry statement said.   

The minister said the meeting was in line with His Majesty King Abdullah’s directives to the government to conduct field visits to become more familiar with the challenges facing Jordanians. 

Outlining the government’s development programme in Karak, the minister said a local team would identify development priorities and allocate funding to infrastructure projects for 2017-2018. 

A Cabinet decision allocated JD150 million to infrastructure projects in governorates for 2017 and JD200 million for 2018, he added. 

The ministry, in coordination with several partners, has provided the necessary financing to study the governorate’s needs and priorities, Fakhoury said. 

Regarding the general budget, the Planning Ministry has distributed the development programme for all governorates to ministries and government institutions to be used as a reference for preparing budgets, he said.

The ministry has taken several measures to enhance social and economic productivity, including ongoing and new projects valued at JD6 million, according to the minister.

Five productive projects will be established in 2016-2017 in cooperation with the Labour Ministry at a cost of JD3.276 million in Zahoum, Mujib, the Southern Jordan Valley, Moab and the Zaha Cultural Centre in Karak, he said, while JD600,000 is being provided in soft loans to recent graduates and unemployed youths. 

USAID has also conducted field visits to governorates including Karak accompanied by a team from the Ministry of Planning and International Cooperation to study the possibility of financing projects.

Financing to ease the burden of the influx of refugees has been directed to the most affected sectors, like education, social protection and justice, the statement said. 

Fakhoury outlined the government’s executive programme to curb poverty and unemployment and to improve the economy.

He stressed the importance of cooperating with the private sector to enhance opportunities to create jobs that guarantee decent incomes for young people.

The government will work to empower local manpower to replace foreign labour, especially in the agriculture, construction and services sectors, Fakhoury said. 

The government aims for Jordanians to make up at least 25 per cent of the workforce in these industries by 2018, he added. 

A basic investment map will be activated in each governorate to enhance productivity, and several investment projects are being studied to train workers for these initiatives, the minister said.